8th CPTPP Council Ministerial Meeting

The Vietnamese delegation includes representatives from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Justice, Public Security and the Government Office , headed by Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien.

At the meeting, CPTPP members expressed that the Agreement's official entry into force for the UK from 15 December 2024 is an important milestone not only for the UK and CPTPP but also for global trade in general, contributing significantly to enhancing the benefits of this Agreement for CPTPP countries as well as countries interested in building trade and investment relations based on open and stable rules. To date, 9/11 CPTPP members have officially completed the process of ratifying the UK's CPTPP accession document and fully prepared the necessary conditions to be able to immediately implement the commitments from 15 December 2024.

One of the important tasks of the CPTPP is to continue reviewing the implementation of the Agreement as well as grasping emerging issues in global trade to help the CPTPP always be a high-standard Agreement, best meeting the interests of the Members. In that context, the Ministers listened to the report on the Review of the implementation of the Agreement in 2024 and proposed necessary directions on the contents that need to be focused on completing in the coming time.

Regarding the admission of new members, the Ministers noted that more and more economies are interested in joining the CPTPP Agreement. This shows the growing attraction and importance of the CPTPP in regional and global trade. At the meeting, CPTPP Members agreed to initiate the accession negotiation process for Costa Rica as well as promote the consideration of applications for accession of other economies, ensuring that the Agreement is always ready to welcome economies that can meet the high standards and comply with the Agreement's accession procedures.

On the basis of consensus, the Ministers agreed to adopt: (i) the Vancouver Declaration; (ii) the Decision to initiate negotiations on Costa Rica's accession to the CPTPP Agreement; and (iii) the Decision on the List of rotating CPTPP Chairs and Vice Chairs for the 2025-2031 period.

The Vietnamese delegation actively participated and made many important contributions, which were recognized and highly appreciated by the countries, contributing to the overall successful results of the meeting. Minister Nguyen Hong Dien emphasized the importance of promoting the review of the Agreement so that the Agreement continues to maintain its position as the "gold standard" and is a typical example of a new generation FTA. With that meaning and goal, the review of the implementation of the Agreement is not only to summarize what has been done, but also to clarify emerging issues for discussion and solutions to narrow the gap between the Agreement and the continuous and uneven development of economies in the region and the world on the basis of respecting the differences of each member country. Therefore, in order to make the Review of the implementation of the Agreement more effective, especially in the context of limited resources, the Minister suggested that CPTPP Members identify priority issues and harmonize initiatives to focus on discussions and thereby propose specific and feasible directions and solutions. In addition, to promptly support countries in handling the huge workload in the coming time, the Minister also suggested that the Council consider establishing the CPTPP Secretariat from 2025. The Minister affirmed that Vietnam will continue to proactively and actively coordinate closely with CPTPP Members in all activities of the Agreement in the coming time, contributing to consolidating the position of the Agreement as a new generation FTA with high standards, a model of global economic cooperation of the 21st century, and bringing more practical benefits to businesses and people of member countries.

The 9th CPTPP Ministerial Council Meeting will be held in 2025 with Australia as Chair and Vietnam and Canada as Vice Chairs.

The CPTPP Agreement is the first new generation free trade agreement (FTA) that Vietnam has joined. The Agreement officially took effect in Vietnam on January 14, 2019. Initially, the CPTPP Agreement had 11 members, including: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

Recently, the CPTPP countries have concluded negotiations and signed the UK's Protocol of Accession. To date, 9/11 CPTPP members have completed the procedures to ratify the UK's accession to the CPTPP and the Agreement will officially come into effect for the UK and these countries from December 15, 2024. The UK's official accession to the CPTPP is an event of great significance, marking the first time the CPTPP has admitted a new member and a member considered to have great potential, outside the Indo-Pacific region, opening up many new opportunities for cooperation and development within the framework of the Agreement.

On the sidelines of the Conference, the Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade had working sessions with the Chair of Canada, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Trade and Industry of Singapore, and Ministers and Heads of Delegations from many countries to discuss and agree on priority issues in the CPTPP as well as solutions to promote bilateral economic and trade cooperation between Vietnam and other countries.

On the Vietnamese side, the CPTPP Agreement has helped import and export activities between Vietnam and countries in the Asia-Pacific region grow strongly. As of the first 9 months of 2024, trade turnover between Vietnam and CPTPP members reached 76.3 billion USD, up 9.6% over the same period; of which, Vietnam's exports reached 41.4 billion USD, up 11.6% and imports reached 34.8 billion USD, up 7.5% over the same period.

Source: https://moit.gov.vn/tin-tuc/hoat-dong/hoat-dong-cua-lanh-dao-bo/phien-hop-hoi-dong-cptpp-cap-bo-truong-lan-thu-8.html