Finance
Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced on Friday that the United Kingdom has decided to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
Following 21 months of negotiations, it has reached its largest trade agreement since Brexit, according to the Xinhua news agency.
The United Kingdom will be the CPTPP’s first new member since its inception in 2018, as well as the bloc’s first European country.
“Joining the CPTPP trade bloc puts the UK at the center of a dynamic and growing group of Pacific economies,” said Sunak.
“British businesses will now enjoy unparalleled access to markets from Europe to the south Pacific,” he added.
According to Sunak’s office, the trade grouping, a massive trade bloc in the Indo-Pacific with a total GDP of 11 trillion pounds ($13.65 trillion), will include more than 500 million people and account for 15% of global GDP once the UK becomes its 12th member.
Membership will “support jobs and create opportunities for companies of all sizes and in all parts of the UK”, Business and Trade Secretary Kemi Badenoch said.
The deal will grant “British businesses improved access to the countries that will be gateway to the wider Indo-Pacific region which is projected to make up the majority of global growth in the future”, he said.
Members of the CPTPP are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
Source:IANS
