News
Government notifies CPTPP members of intent to join
Courtesy of ICRT
The government has notified member economies of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership that Taiwan is seeking to join the regional trade deal.
Taiwan is seeking membership of the 11-nation bloc to cushion the impact of being excluded from the Beijing-backed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, which was formed in November.
The government says Taiwan is currently engaging in informal consultations with CPTPP member economies after notifying them of its desire to join.
According to government officials, the CPTPP will form a working group to evaluate and discuss whether to commence the accession process or not after it receives Taiwan's request for accession.
The trade bloc's accession rules state that aspirant economies must notify New Zealand, which serves as the depositary, of their formal request to commence negotiations on accession after gaining unanimous support from its members.
The CPTPP is a Japanese-led trade deal.
