CPTPP members agree to start UK’s joining process
WORLDWIDE EXPANSION: Britain’s bid to join the trade bloc in the Pacific region came after London inked its first post-Brexit trade agreement with Tokyo last year
Reuters, TOKYO
Member nations of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) yesterday officially agreed to allow the UK to start the process of joining the pact, Japanese Minister of State for Economic and Fiscal Policy Yasutoshi Nishimura said.
Nishimura told reporters that he welcomed the start of Britain’s joining process after hosting an online meeting of ministers from the 11 countries that make up the trans-Pacific trade pact.
PREMIUM
Boris Johnson on the steps of the Sydney Opera House during a visit to Australia in 2017 Picture: Dan Himbrechts/AFP/Getty Images PEOPLE observing the unfolding drama around the UK’s planned free trade agreement with Australia could be forgiven for thinking – given the noise from Conservative government figures promoting a deal and understandable furore over key aspects – that potential benefits must be huge. The proposed deal appears to have created division within the Boris Johnson government, amid reports of tariff-free and quota-free aspects. It has infuriated the UK farming community, raising fears of a leap in beef and lamb imports from Australia. And the Scottish Government has made plain its concerns.
Last week, O Connor said New Zealand and the UK had agreed to rapidly lift the tempo of their FTA talks off the back of a fourth round of negotiations. The bones of the agreement were agreed to, but O Connor said he had emphasised to UK Secretary of State for International Trade Liz Truss that there is still significant work to do on market access outcomes, particularly for agriculture.
He said on Thursday that he has recently had constructive calls and virtual engagements with his UK and EU counterparts. Virtual engagements are useful, but to make significant further progress in both negotiations before the European summer, I am visiting the capitals in person to reinforce New Zealand’s expectations and give these talks every chance of success.
Palm oil challenges in the West: EU ambassador insists sustainability is non-negotiable for consumers Consumers in the EU are ‘demanding sustainability’ when it comes to palm oil and related food products, according to an EU ambassador, fanning the flames of ongoing strife with palm oil producing countries in the ASEAN region.
The European Union (EU) and palm oil producing countries such as Indonesia and Malaysia have been at loggerheads for some years now over continuing opposition by the EU to palm oil, citing claims of unsustainability which have been vehemently protested by the producers.
More recently, this debate has been centred around the EU’s controversial Farm-to-Fork (F2F) strategy, which combines both regulatory and non-regulatory initiatives in an attempt to improve its overall food chain, but which many have said also unfairly targets produce and food products manufactured outside of the EU.