The participation in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) has reflected a new level of Vietnam’s regional and global integration, according to Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh. 

Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Tuan Anh (first from right, second row)

He told reporters on the sidelines of the CPTPP signing ceremony that took place on March 8 in Santiago, Chile that the CPTPP membership shows Vietnam’s determination to resolutely implement the Party’s strategy and the State’s policies on undertaking proactive, intensive and extensive international integration. 

The minister said as one of the founders of the TPP and CPTPP, Vietnam achieved many purposes. 

In external politics, Vietnam affirmed its role in bilateral and multilateral political forums in the region and the world. 

The country will have chances to refine a State of the rule of law and an increasingly competitive economy on the basis of goods transparency and trade facilitation in accordance with the principles of a market-driven economy. 

As the founding country of CPTPP, Vietnam is able to protect and maximise its interests when considering other countries’ admission to the deal. 

Economic and trade benefits tied with long-term strategic interests will make it easier for Vietnam to take off in new and promising markets. 

Further attention will be paid to growth momentums in the next decades via legal and institutional reform in non-traditional fields. 

Asked about challenges in the negotiations, Anh said it is a tense, complicated and prolonging process as member countries tabled many requests for the deal. Following the US’s withdrawal and the conclusion of the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting and the 11th TPP Ministerial Meeting in Da Nang, 11 countries did their best to achieve today results. 

As regards Vietnam’s preparations for CPTPP implementation, Anh said the government will issue an action plan to specify tasks, especially reviewing and adjusting legal frameworks to match its commitments to the pact. 

Later, the country will disseminate the deal’s contents to the public, with attention given to the role and responsibility of State management agencies and the business community. 

He stressed the need to establish mechanisms to hasten, oversee, and inspect CPTPP implementation, adding that political organisations must also grasp requirements in the process.

The minister affirmed that member states highly valued the quality of the new-generation free trade deal.

VNA