Officials of the CPTPP member nations at the deal signing ceremony in Chile last March (Photo: AFP/VNA)Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam andJapan on September 13 urged the US to rejoin the Trans-Pacific Partnership(TPP) deal, now renamed Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement forTrans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), almost two years after US PresidentDonald Trump withdrew from the deal, according to the AFP news agency.
The AFP report quoted Japanese Foreign MinisterTaro Kono, speaking at the World Economic Forum on ASEAN in Hanoi, as sayingthat CPTPP members believe that the agreement is still the best option for theUS, and that it will be very attractive for US industries and farmersto join it. He added that the pactcould be going into effect by the end of the year.
Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister and ForeignMinister Pham Binh Minh echoed Kono's appeal, calling the deal "avery high-standard agreement".
The TPP used to be negotiated by 12 countries,namely Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand,Peru, Singapore, Vietnam, and the US.
After the US withdrew from the TPP, theremaining 11 members still strived to continue the deal and renamed it CPTPP,which was officially signed in Chile on March 8.
They said they would leave a door open for theUS’s re-participation and new members.
Last April, President Trump said the US wouldonly join the CPTPP if the deal was improved.
The CPTPP is expected to promote economicgrowth, create more jobs, reduce poverty, and improve the living standards ofpeople in member countries. It will create one of the biggest free trade blocsin the world, with a combined market of some 499 million people and total GDPof 10.1 trillion USD, accounting for 13.5 percent of the global GDP. –VNA
VNA
