Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership

On 27 and 28 November 2024, I attended the eighth meeting of the commission of the comprehensive and progressive agreement for trans-Pacific partnership in Vancouver, Canada, where a number of issues were considered by CPTPP Ministers.

At the meeting, a formal commission decision was taken to commence a CPTPP accession process with Costa Rica via establishment of an accession working group.

CPTPP Ministers have reaffirmed on several instances that CPTPP is open to accession requests by economies that can satisfy the “Auckland principles”, namely;

preparedness to meet the agreement’s high standards;

a demonstrated pattern of complying with trade commitments; and

recognition that decisions are dependent on the consensus of the CPTPP parties.

Through extensive discussions and deliberations on all accession requests, the UK and other CPTPP members have identified that Costa Rica can satisfy the three Auckland principles. As such, in Vancouver, CPTPP Ministers formally decided to commence the accession process with Costa Rica and establish an accession working group.

This move demonstrates that CPTPP remains a living agreement, and one which is designed to expand and bring in new high standards economies. Over time this expansion process will grow the global reach of the agreement, creating further opportunities for CPTPP members.

It is expected that the first AWG meeting will take place in the first half of 2025, during Australia’s year as CPTPP chair. The UK will continue to work with CPTPP members to consider and discuss the remaining accession requests in accordance with the Auckland principles, and the establishment of an AWG for Costa Rica will not prevent this process.

To ensure that interested stakeholders are provided the opportunity to feed in views on the accession process of Costa Rica, today the Department for Business and Trade will launch a period of public engagement that will run across eight weeks, closing on 24 January 2025. During this period, we will ask stakeholders what issues they would like us to consider when engaging in discussions on whether Costa Rica should join CPTPP and the terms on which they should join. The link to the public engagement questionnaire can be found online at https://ditresearch.eu.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_2bnop4ZwgdoyNVk

In addition to discussing future accessions, CPTPP Ministers also discussed progress on the CPTPP general review during the meeting in Vancouver. The joint ministerial statement—known as the “Vancouver statement”—published following the meeting summarises the progress made in 2024, during the first phase of the general review, and sets out the forward workplan for 2025. In 2025 members will deepen their discussions on whether and how the agreement should be revised or updated to remain relevant to the trade and investment issues and challenges we all face today, including in a number of areas of particular interest to the UK. The Vancouver statement can be found online at https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/cptpp-joint-ministerial-statement-in-vancouver-canada-28-november-2024