CPTPP countries declare readiness to accept new members

That was the message delivered by trade ministers of the 12 CPTPP member countries at a meeting on November 15 on the sidelines of the 30th Asia- Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit in San Francisco, USA.

This is the first ministerial meeting to include the UK, which joined the trading bloc last July.

According to a joint statement posted on the UK Department of Trade website, at this meeting, ministers reaffirmed: "CPTPP is open to economies that are willing to meet the high standards of this agreement and have a demonstrated pattern of compliance with trade commitments."

The CPTPP joint statement also stated that the admission of new members requires the consensus of the entire bloc and that since July, the bloc has been "gathering information on whether the economies that wish to join can meet the high standards of the CPTPP" .

In addition, the bloc will also apply lessons learned during the process of admitting the UK.

Current CPTPP members include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United Kingdom and Vietnam.

(Source: Tin Tuc Newspaper)