Regarding the countries' agreement on the time when the TPP will come into effect after the meeting this morning, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh did not give a specific time.

"This depends on the cooperation of the TPP countries and will be decided before the APEC summit in November 2017," he said.

Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh at a press conference after working with TPP trade ministers. Photo: Thanh Tuan.

At the press conference after the meeting with TPP trade ministers on the morning of May 21, Minister Tran Tuan Anh said that the TPP ministerial meeting of the countries agreed to issue a joint statement affirming the basic contents related to the assessment and perception of TPP by the 11 countries participating in TPP, agreeing on the directions and requirements for the implementation of TPP.

"From now until the APEC summit at the end of 2017, the working mechanisms of the TPP will continue to be implemented. Under the direction of the ministers, technical conferences and conferences of the heads of negotiating delegations will continue to be implemented," said Mr. Tran Tuan Anh.

According to him, this is a process in which TPP signatory countries listen to and share specific initiatives and proposals for the direction of the agreement, including a specific roadmap for ratifying and bringing the TPP into effect.

Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc takes a photo with APEC Ministers in charge of Trade. Photo: Le Hieu.

Hopes for a TPP reboot have been rekindled, especially after a meeting between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English on May 17 in Tokyo. Both New Zealand and Japan are now aiming to implement the TPP without too much renegotiation – with the hope of leaving the door open for the US to return.

Besides Japan and New Zealand, Australia is the three countries most determined at the moment to promote the restart of TPP 11 (without the participation of the US). Two countries also supporting TPP 11 are Singapore and Brunei.

Countries that are expected to benefit the most from the US market, such as Malaysia and Vietnam, are still hesitant about the new plan (because they have too much to lose without the US). Latin American countries such as Peru and Chile are interested in negotiating a new agreement that could include China.

This morning, trade ministers of TPP countries held a working session lasting about two hours at the JW Marriot Hotel, on the sidelines of the 23rd APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade (MRT 23). The meeting is considered to be decisive for the relaunch of a TPP 11 agreement.

The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) is considered the world’s largest free trade agreement. This agreement was negotiated from March 2010 and signed in early 2016, including 12 countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam.

With a scale accounting for 40% of global GDP, TPP was a pillar of the "rebalancing" policy, shifting to Asia during the 8 years of former President Barack Obama's administration. The US and 11 Asia-Pacific countries spent a lot of time and political resources to negotiate this agreement.

In early 2017, after Donald Trump took office as president, the US withdrew from the TPP, causing a huge shock to America's important allies and partners in the region.

Washington's decision also temporarily "froze" the agreement. TPP 11 is the name of the agreement between the remaining 11 members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement after the US withdrawal.

According to Zing.vn