3 CPTPP members hope Malaysia will jump on bandwagon

KUALA LUMPUR: Senior representatives from three of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) member countries, namely Australia, Canada and Japan are welcoming Malaysia to join the bandwagon.

Malaysia and the 10 other countries signed the revised pact last March, following the US’ decision to withdraw from the original TPP agreement.

To date, Mexico, Japan and Singapore have ratified the CPTPP, with Australia and Chile to follow suit by year-end. Canada had recently tabled the full text of the agreement.

Speaking at a discussion on the ongoing free trade deal yesterday, Australia’s deputy high commissioner Michael Growder said that the new Malaysian government has the right to review what the previous government had signed up to in the treaty.

“We are all very supportive of that. Many other governments will do the same thing and it is not something (that) we have any problem with at all. We hope that they (Malaysian government) would see fit to ratify (the CPTPP) as they go through with the ratification process,” Growder said.

Meanwhile, Canada’s high commissioner Julia Bentley believes that Malaysia’s top exports would benefit from the CPTPP, which include the country’s exports of palm oil, rubber and electronic products due to lower tariffs.

Bentley said she hoped that Canada could become one of the first six nations to ratify the pact.

It is learnt that the deal will only come into effect 60 days after six countries ratify the agreement.

The event, which is aimed to discuss the importance and benefits of CPTPP, was jointly organised by three chamber of commerce, namely the Malaysia Canada Business Council, Malaysian Australian Business Council and the Japanese Chamber of Trade and Industry Malaysia.