KUALA LUMPUR, June 19 (Bernama)-- Mexico has been accepted as a new member
of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations by the current nine
participants after several months of bilateral consultations.
The Ministry of International Trade and Industry in a statement today said
Mexico can formally participate in the negotiations after the current
participants had undertaken their domestic procedures.
"Considering the advanced state of negotiations, Mexico will have to abide
with procedures established to ensure that there is no undue delay to the
negotiations," it added.
Its minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed said: "The inclusion of Mexico takes
us another step closer towards the realisation of a Free Trade Area across the
Asia-Pacific region.
"It is Malaysia’s hope to see other major Asia-Pacific countries that are
ready to accept the comprehensive scope and high standards of the TPP to join
this initiative."
He also said Mexico’s participation would create a larger TPP market for
Malaysian goods and services.
Mexico is Malaysia’s second largest trading partner among Latin American
countries after Brazil.
In 2011, Malaysia’s total trade with the TPP countries, including Mexico,
amounted to RM349.6 billion or 27.4 per cent of its global trade for that
year.
The TPP is an initiative to establish a comprehensive, high-ambition,
next-generation FTA, which will not only encompass the elements of a traditional
FTA, but also new areas such as government procurement, competition, labour,
environment and horizontal issues.
The original participants of the TPP negotiations were Australia, Brunei,
Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam, while
Malaysia joined in 2010.
--BERNAMA
NSF AS