Business
CPTPP ready for March signing
The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) will be signed on March 8 in Chile, after overcoming differences on outstanding issues, including disputes on Vietnam labor policies.
The 11 members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership without the US have achieved a breakthrough at the January 24 negotiation round in Japan, according to Nikkei.
During the previous negotiation rounds, concerns were raised related to workers’ rights in Vietnam to team-negotiate and establish labor unions, Vietnamese Trade Minister Tran Tuan Anh was quoted by local media as saying.
The need for a new mechanism in Vietnam to solve labor disputes and related sanctions within three years were also mentioned, he said.
As such, Vietnam agreed on a labor reform in which the country would implement eight pacts with the International Labor Organization (ILO) in a certain period of time, as committed to the US when it was still involved in the TPP.
After the US pulled out of the deal, Mexico keeps Vietnam to the commitment, and sets an even tighter time schedule.
Tuan said the issue “raised tensions” ahead of the APEC Summit in Vietnam.
“However, through restrained negotiation, we have come to a more advantageous arrangement than the TPP labor chapter,” Tuan Anh stated.
Accordingly, Vietnam has five years before trade sanctions kick in and two more years to review its legal framework. The grace period allows Vietnam to complete its institutions with a higher capacity to adopt the pact’s terms and fulfill national targets at the same time.
These achievements resulted from significant support from Japan, especially from Japanese Minister of Economy Toshimitsu Motegi, according to Tuan Anh.
Vietnamese Trade Minister believes without US and high advantages as initially expected, CPTPP still offers members with unexpected benefits via mechanism improved by increasing competitiveness for enterprises and economy. “With the new progress, the trade pact can lure more countries to attend, even the old member US", he said.
Fred Burke, Managing Lawyer at Baker&McKenzie law firm also warned last year that in addition to certain provisions being put into suspended status, therer are some isues that have not yet been settled down among TPP-11 members. “The parties have yet to agree upon four parts of the agreement, including State-owned enterprise (SOEs) related to Malaysia, commitments on coal relating to Brunei, dispute settlement involving trade sanctions for Vietnam, and Canada’s cultural exception,” Burke told Hanoitimes last December.
Additionally, each party will need to have domestic political support for the CPTPP as it will require ratification by each party and this may require further changes, Burke noted.
Ministers of the remaining 11 TPP economies agreed on the way forward to implement the TPP agreement without the US, and also renamed it as the CPTPP last November, on sidelines of APEC Summit in Vietnam.
The original TPP includes 12 members, comprising Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US and Vietnam. But the US President Donald Trump decided to withdraw the US from the TPP in early 2017.
During the previous negotiation rounds, concerns were raised related to workers’ rights in Vietnam to team-negotiate and establish labor unions, Vietnamese Trade Minister Tran Tuan Anh was quoted by local media as saying.
Vietnamese Trade Minister Tran Tuan Anh. Photo source: Tuoitre
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As such, Vietnam agreed on a labor reform in which the country would implement eight pacts with the International Labor Organization (ILO) in a certain period of time, as committed to the US when it was still involved in the TPP.
After the US pulled out of the deal, Mexico keeps Vietnam to the commitment, and sets an even tighter time schedule.
Tuan said the issue “raised tensions” ahead of the APEC Summit in Vietnam.
“However, through restrained negotiation, we have come to a more advantageous arrangement than the TPP labor chapter,” Tuan Anh stated.
Accordingly, Vietnam has five years before trade sanctions kick in and two more years to review its legal framework. The grace period allows Vietnam to complete its institutions with a higher capacity to adopt the pact’s terms and fulfill national targets at the same time.
These achievements resulted from significant support from Japan, especially from Japanese Minister of Economy Toshimitsu Motegi, according to Tuan Anh.
Vietnamese Trade Minister believes without US and high advantages as initially expected, CPTPP still offers members with unexpected benefits via mechanism improved by increasing competitiveness for enterprises and economy. “With the new progress, the trade pact can lure more countries to attend, even the old member US", he said.
Fred Burke, Managing Lawyer at Baker&McKenzie law firm also warned last year that in addition to certain provisions being put into suspended status, therer are some isues that have not yet been settled down among TPP-11 members. “The parties have yet to agree upon four parts of the agreement, including State-owned enterprise (SOEs) related to Malaysia, commitments on coal relating to Brunei, dispute settlement involving trade sanctions for Vietnam, and Canada’s cultural exception,” Burke told Hanoitimes last December.
Additionally, each party will need to have domestic political support for the CPTPP as it will require ratification by each party and this may require further changes, Burke noted.
Ministers of the remaining 11 TPP economies agreed on the way forward to implement the TPP agreement without the US, and also renamed it as the CPTPP last November, on sidelines of APEC Summit in Vietnam.
The original TPP includes 12 members, comprising Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US and Vietnam. But the US President Donald Trump decided to withdraw the US from the TPP in early 2017.
