KUALA LUMPUR, July 17 — The approvals of new Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) membership must be based on consensus.

Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Datuk Seri Tengku Zafrul Abdul Aziz said this was one of the two agreed approval criteria set by the CPTPP countries namely Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

CPTPP had on Sunday officially welcomed the United Kingdom as its 12th member following the Accession Protocol signing ceremony that took place in Auckland, New Zealand during the seventh CPTPP Ministerial Commission Meeting.

Tengku Zafrul said to be a new member of CPTPP, all existing members must agree to the application regardless of the applicant country, adding that six countries — China, Taiwan, Ukraine, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Uruguay — have so far expressed their interest to be part of the trade pact.

“We did not discuss in depth which (country) we would see first, (but) what we have agreed on is, first, any decision must be a consensus decision where all 12 countries must agree.

“We don’t want to rush, we want to make sure that all the parameters (that have been set) are agreed upon by all countries.

“So any country that wants to apply to join the CPTPP, there is the same basis and parameters for all (to meet),” he told reporters after officiating at the Proton Global Investors and Vendors Convention 2023 here today.

Tengku Zafrul said the other important criteria of membership is that the country must fulfill strict requirements of the CPTPP membership.

“The standard of CPTPP is high, we call it the gold standard. So any country which wants to be part of CPTPP must meet all the conditions that have been agreed to by all 12 countries,” he said.

Commenting on the UK being the latest addition to the CPTPP, Tengku Zafrul said the country’s participation will not only benefit Malaysia, but other member countries as well, given that it is part of the G7 — the sixth biggest economy in the world.

The UK is also one of Malaysia’s largest trading and investment partners, he said.

“What is good is in terms of exports, we have commodities such as cocoa, rubber, and palm oil that have no tariffs to the UK and this will provide opportunities to local companies if they want to export to the UK,” he explained.

Malaysia finalised the CPTPP deal in September last year, the ninth of the 11th countries to have ratified the agreement. — Bernama