Trade ministers from 12 countries gathered in Atlanta, the US from September 30 to October 4, 2015 to seek an agreement to wrap up negotiations. TPP negotiators included Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.
Negotiations completed
The Vietnamese delegation was led by Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang.
The negotiation took longer than expected. At first, trade ministers planned to debate in three days but the discussions then needed five days. After five years, important contents of negotiations were concluded, including market opening, intellectual property, labour regulations and State enterprises.
The delegation of Vietnam took part in plenary sessions, many breakout sessions and bilateral talks with US Trade Representative Michael Froman, Malaysian Minister for International Trade and Industry Sri Mustapa Mohamed, Mexican Secretary of Economy Ildefonso Guajardo, Peruvian Minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism Magali Silva, and other ministers from various countries. The Vietnam delegation expressed active cooperation with other countries to wrap up comprehensive negotiations.
Growth expectations
TPP is considered a model for regional economic cooperation in the early years of the 21st century. The agreement consists of 30 chapters, which cover not only traditional areas like commodity, services and investments, but also refer to email and electronic trade, supply chain facilitation and SOEs.
Given negotiations results, TPP will be an all-inclusive high-quality agreement that balances interests of all parties and pays attention to different levels of development of signatories. TPP is expected to boost economic growth in all TPP countries; create jobs, reduce poverty and improve living standards of people; advance innovation and improve productivity and competitiveness; enhance transparency and good governance; and strengthen labour and the environment standards.
Regarding the market access, participating countries agreed to abolish nearly all import tariffs for each other according to roadmaps; remove export duties, keep a limited level and not extend export taxes in the future; liberalise services and investment; open up public procurement; and create new business opportunities and benefits for consumers in member nations.
Garment and textile, leather and footwear, seafood, woodwork, automobile distribution, industrial park and seaport benefit most from TPP.
Huong Ly
Vietnamese
