Chilean President Michelle Bachelet (Source: VNA)Santiago (VNA) - The government ofChile has announced that the country’s President Michelle Bachelet and ForeignMinister Heraldo Munos will chair the signing ceremony of the Comprehensive andProgressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) on March 8 (localtime).
Trade ministers of other countries negotiating the trade pact, namelyAustralia, Brunei, Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, Japan, New Zealand, Peru,Singapore and Vietnam, will attend the event.
CPTPP was launched a year ago after the US withdrew from the Trans-PacificPartnership (TPP) agreement. It sets high criteria in numerous fields,including labour, the environment, intellectual property, digital economy andcyber security.
Twenty-two provisions of the CPTPP, includingsensitive ones related to intellectual property, were suspended or changed incomparison to the TPP.
The pact is expected to facilitate for the promotion of economic growth and jobgeneration, poverty reduction, and improvement of people’s living conditions.
It will be a strong message against protectionism, while proving that anopening economy will benefit member nations, according to experts.
The pact, once signed, will create one of the world’s largest free trade blocswith a combined market of 463 million people and GDP of around 10,000 billionUSD, accounting for 13 percent of the global GDP.
It will bring about important commitmentsinvolved in non-tariff barriers, services, investment and other fields.
The pact will come into force 60 days after it is fully ratified by six of the11 members. -VNA
VNA
