The governments of New Zealand and Japan said on July that Ukraine has formally applied to New Zealand, the depositary of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), to join, Reuters reported.
A spokesman for the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on the same day that the country had received a formal request for accession from Ukraine on May 5, and that subsequent steps in the relevant application process would be decided by all CPTPP member countries, the report said. According to the plan, CPTPP member countries will meet in the New Zealand city of Auckland on July 16.
Japan’s Minister of Economic Revitalization, Shigeyuki Goto, said at a regular press conference on July 7 that as one of the CPTPP members, Japan must carefully assess whether Ukraine fully meets the high standards of the CPTPP in terms of market access and rules.
The CPTPP was formerly known as the TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership), which was signed by 12 countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore and Vietnam, in October 2015. After repeated consultations, the 11 member countries completed CPTPP negotiations in early 2018, and on December 30 of the same year, CPTPP officially came into effect. on March 31, 2023, the UK Trade Minister Badenoch announced that the UK officially joined CPTPP and will become the 12th member country.