National Assembly approves UK's CPTPP membership

The approval was made at the ongoing seventh working session of the 15th National Assembly.

On February 1, 2021, the UK officially submitted its application to join the CPTPP. Following this, negotiations between the UK and the CPTPP member countries were conducted.

Essentially, the negotiation for the UK's accession to the CPTPP was unilateral, with the UK making numerous commitments to open new markets and accepting all existing commitments within the CPTPP.

On June 16, 2023, with the authorization of the Government, the Minister of Industry and Trade, along with ministers from other CPTPP countries and the UK, signed the document on the UK's accession to the CPTPP, making it the twelfth signatory member of the agreement.

Assessing the impact of the UK's accession to the CPTPP, Vice President Vo Thi Anh Xuan noted that Viet Nam and the UK already have a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA).

"The UK's accession to the CPTPP will further reinforce Viet Nam's role with the UK in the region, enhance Viet Nam's position in international economic cooperation, and strengthen bilateral relations with the UK," Vo said.

Significantly, the UK's recognition of Viet Nam's market economy status is important as it provides a basis for Viet Nam to continue lobbying other countries, including the U.S., to recognize Viet Nam as a market economy.

"From a multilateral perspective, the UK's accession to the CPTPP will help connect the Asia-Pacific, Americas, and Europe, elevating the CPTPP from a regional agreement to a global one," the Vice President stated.

According to Vo, in terms of economic impact, the UK's accession to the CPTPP will help attract other economies to join this regional FTA, expanding market access opportunities for Vietnamese goods and increasing Viet Nam's appeal to foreign investors.

Besides, Minister of Industry and Trade Nguyen Hong Dien said, the UK is set to eliminate 94.4 percent of tax lines for Viet Nam with its commitments in the CPTPP.

Viet Nam is among the first CPTPP countries to ratify the protocol. So far, three CPTPP members including Singapore, Japan, and Chile, have announced the completion of domestic procedures.

According to the Vietnamese Ministry of Industry and Trade, in the first 10 months of 2023, total trade in goods between the UK and Viet Nam reached US$5.92 billion, including Viet Nam's exports of US$5.27 billion, up 2.5 per cent on-year, and imports of US$652 million, up 2.8 per cent on-year.

The UK will be the first European member and first new member since CPTPP was created. With the UK as a member, CPTPP will have a combined GDP of £12 trillion and account for 15 percent of global GDP.

Earlier, the CPTPP was signed by 11 countries, namely Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Viet Nam in Chile on March 8, 2018.

Eight months later, Viet Nam ratified the trade deal that took effect on January 14, 2019./.