Canada hosts meeting of Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership Commission, advancing key priorities to grow and support free, open and rules-based trade

Press Release

From: Global Affairs Canada

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) helps Canadian businesses by facilitating access to key markets and resolving trade barriers, which helps create good-paying middle-class jobs for Canadians.

The Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development, welcomed CPTPP member ministers and heads of delegation to the eighth CPTPP Commission meeting, held in Vancouver, B.C., from November 27 to 28, 2024.

As Chair of the 2024 CPTPP Commission, Canada sought to ensure the Agreement remains at the cutting-edge of rules-based trade policy to ensure businesses, particularly SMEs and women-led and Indigenous-led firms, can benefit from the opportunities that flow from trade.

During the meeting, CPTPP members reviewed work undertaken in 2024 as part of the CPTPP General Review and agreed to several outcomes. Members also achieved consensus to launch a working group to negotiate the accession of Costa Rica to the CPTPP, demonstrating that expansion of the CPTPP remains a core objective for members.

Looking ahead to 2025, members agreed to:

• further collaborate in areas such as inclusive trade, economic coercion and innovation
• launch exploratory discussions to modernize the Agreement’s chapters on electronic commerce and financial services
• explore initiatives to discuss trade and investment issues with select partners to facilitate effective and timely collaboration in the spirit of rules-based trade

While at the Commission meeting, Minister Ng met bilaterally with several ministerial counterparts, including those representing Brunei, Chile, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom and Viet Nam, along with New Zealand and Australia, the current vice-chairs of the CPTPP Commission. The Minister stressed the importance of members’ collective support for predictable and rules-based trade in creating and upholding inclusive, resilient and innovative economies.

On the margins of the Commission meeting, Canada organized a 2-day inclusive trade symposium that brought together government policy experts and businesses, including SMEs and Indigenous and women-led firms, to offer insights and best practices on maximizing the benefits of the CPTPP. The symposium concluded with a policy forum, co-led with the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada (APF Canada), to discuss ways the CPTPP can remain at the cutting-edge of trade policy. The forum’s keynote event was an armchair discussion, led by Minister Ng and including panellists representing Australia, Chile, Mexico and New Zealand, on how the CPTPP can increase exporters’ use of the Agreement and support underrepresented groups.

APF Canada launched a website to host important CPTPP public documents and statements, making the Agreement more accessible to Canadian.

Quotes

“This year’s CPTPP Commission meeting reaffirmed members’ strong support for rules-based trade, which provides greater trade and investment opportunities for Canadian businesses. I thank my CPTPP colleagues for their contributions to the meeting and look forward to continuing our collective work.”

– Mary Ng, Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development

Quick facts

• The CPTPP is a free trade agreement between Canada and 10 other countries in the Indo-Pacific: Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. The United Kingdom will accede to the CPTPP on December 15, 2024.
• CPTPP members form a trading bloc representing 580 million consumers.
• The CPTPP provides Canada with preferential access to key markets and is a cornerstone of its engagement in the Indo-Pacific region, helping to create jobs, strengthen economic relations and boost Canada’s trade with important trading partners.
• The CPTPP establishes a single set of rules among the parties, making trade more transparent, predictable and accessible, and addresses key barriers to doing business.
• In 2023, total merchandise trade between Canada and all CPTPP partners was valued at $130.8 billion, an increase of 5% from 2022.
• Only 1 year after the CPTPP came into effect, Canadian firms created 135,000 jobs and saw their exports to the new CPTPP markets grow by 25% or more.

Related products

• Vancouver Statement on the occasion of the eighth Commission Meeting of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership
• Canada to host eighth Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership Commission meeting in Vancouver, B.C.
• Minister Ng concludes successful seventh meeting of Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership Commission

Associated links

• Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership
• Inclusive Trade Action Group
• Trade policy and gender

Contacts

Huzaif Qaisar
Press Secretary
Office of the Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development
343-575-8816
Huzaif.Qaisar@international.gc.ca

Media Relations Office
Global Affairs Canada
media@international.gc.ca

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