Four TPP countries hold discussions in Washington DC
Four TPP countries hold discussions in Washington DC
A dialogue was held yesterday in Washington DC, the United States (US), with around 300 representatives from four Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) member countries discussing the trade deal's opportunities and challenges.
The participants said that a majority of the residents and business communities believed the TPP would be beneficial to member countries through tariff elimination, trade and investment liberalisation, and the global supply and value chains.
Four ambassadors of Viet Nam, Peru, Canada and Japan to the US at the dialogue agreed that the TPP did not conflict with the World Trade Organisation's commitments and other regional agreements, but would promote trade liberalisation instead.
According to Vietnamese Ambassador to the US Pham Quang Vinh, the TPP played a significant role in both the economy and development strategy of Viet Nam and other member countries.
However, as a developing economy, Viet Nam would face a number of challenges in meeting high standards raised in the TPP, such as taking advantage of opportunities arising from the trade deal and protecting local production against competition from imported products, Vinh was quoted by Vietnam News Agency as saying.
It would take time to adapt to the TPP, Vinh said, adding that Viet Nam hoped to receive technical support from other member countries.
At the dialogue, Vinh said that TPP would play an important role in shaping global trade in the next 20 years. However, he stressed that it was important for the trade deal to prove its success in practice, which would then have a spill-over effect and lead to other trade mechanisms.
The TPP member countries all agreed to make the signing and implementation of the trade deal a priority.
