Vietnam will be the Chairman of the CPTPP Council in 2026.
The Chairman of the CPTPP Council in 2019 is Japan and this position will be rotated by member countries in the following years.
Ministers from 11 countries participating in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) attended the first meeting of the CPTPP Council in Tokyo, Japan, on January 19. This is the first meeting of the council since the CPTPP came into effect on December 30, 2018.
At the meeting, the Ministers adopted a Joint Statement affirming their determination to fully implement the CPTPP. The Ministers also adopted four important decisions on the implementation of this agreement, such as the operating mechanism of the CPTPP Council; the process, procedures and conditions for considering and admitting new member countries; the process and procedures of the arbitration council related to the dispute settlement mechanism between the State and the State and the code of conduct of arbitrators related to the dispute settlement mechanism between investors and the State.
According to the joint statement of the Ministers, from 2020, the position of Chairman of the CPTPP Council will be held by member countries in rotation for a period of 1 year. Vietnam will hold the role of Chairman of the CPTPP Council in 2026 and Australia will be Vice Chairman of the Council.
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Ministers of 11 CPTPP member countries attended the first meeting of the CPTPP Council in Tokyo on January 19.Photo: TG&VN |
However, to ensure the smooth implementation of the CPTPP during the transition period, Japan will assume the role of Council Chair in 2019. It will coordinate closely with New Zealand (Depository State) and Mexico (Chair for the next term) and the remaining members.
New Zealand will also host a council meeting in the second half of 2019, along with meetings of key committees, to promote implementation in the first year of the agreement's entry into force.
Also at the meeting, Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh, on behalf of the Ministers, acknowledged the efforts, solidarity and active mutual support of the 11 member countries. He said that the CPTPP officially coming into effect is an important milestone for the process of trade liberalization in the region and the world.
"This is a strong message that we send to the international community, that only cooperation and mutual support on the basis of mutual benefit is the right path for development and prosperity in the region as well as on this earth," said Minister Tran Tuan Anh.
He also stressed the need to focus on implementation and completion of the agreement's ratification process in the remaining four member countries.
The CPTPP Agreement was signed by 11 founding member countries including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, New Zealand, Peru and Vietnam in March 2018 in Chile.
CPTPP has been effective for 6 countries since December 30, 2018, namely Mexico, Japan, Singapore, New Zealand, Canada and Australia. For Vietnam, the agreement has been effective since January 14, 2019.
The CPTPP creates a giant free economic zone with a market size of about 500 million people and accounting for 13% of global GDP. The CPTPP unifies investment and service regulations for many sectors, gradually eliminating tariffs on agricultural and industrial products.
The markets of the CPTPP participating countries are large in scale, with the GDP of the whole bloc accounting for 13.5% of global GDP, including Japan, the third largest economy in the world. Therefore, participating in the CPTPP is generally beneficial for Vietnam, but the challenges are not small when the majority of Vietnamese enterprises are small and medium-sized, with limited capacity and potential.