Brunei ratifies the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) is a modern and ambitious free trade agreement between Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. It covers nearly 500 million people, 14 percent of global GDP and 15 percent of global trade. As such, it is one of the largest and most significant free trade agreements in the region.
CPTPP was signed in March 2018 and subsequently ratified by seven (Aus-tralia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand, Singapore, and Vietnam) of the eleven parties to the agreement. As a result, CPTPP entered into force in De-cember 2018. Three members (Peru, Malaysia, and Chile) followed until Febru-ary 2023.
Brunei Darussalam is the last signatory to ratify the Agreement. The Sultanate has notified the depository of CPTPP on 13 May 2023 and therefore the CPTPP will enter into force for Brunei Darussalam 60 days later. The ratification fol-lows the announcement of the United Kingdom in March that they will join CPTPP.
CPTPP is among the most modern and ambitious free trade agreements in the Asian region. Industrial and merchandise trade have been almost completely liberalized: The agreement achieves duty-free treatment for nearly 97 percent of all goods. CPTPP has led to a comprehensive opening of the services sec-tors. New business opportunities are opening up, for example in the logistics, education, financial and healthcare sectors. All relevant protection standards apply to investments. In addition, CPTPP is particularly convincing by the fact that it also addresses a number of non-tariff issues. Numerous trade-related aspects such as dealing with state-owned enterprises, digital trade and SMEs are also covered.
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