Mexico Admitted as New Member of TPP Negotiations

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 on Tuesday 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 Mustapa Mohamed said: "The inclusion of Mexico takes us another step closer towards the realisation of a Free Trade Area (FTA) 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 (US$110.7 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