Dominic Raab: ‘Vietnam supports the UK to join the CPTPP’

Foreign Minister Dominic Raab said the UK is counting on the support of Vietnam to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

“This is an important step forward in taking the economic relationship between the UK and Vietnam to a new level, while demonstrating the UK’s commitment and value to the region,” Raab said on Twitter on Tuesday. / 09.

CPTPP is a free trade agreement that unites 11 countries, including Canada, Australia, Brunei, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam.

In early September, the UK said it had made significant progress by joining the CPTPP when Britain’s Minister for International Trade, Liz Truss, together with Mexico’s Minister for the Economy, Graciela Márquez (current Commission Chair) CPTPP Association) opened discussions between senior UK trade officials and the Head of the 11-member CPTPP negotiating team to discuss the possibility of joining the UK.

In mid-June this year, the UK announced its intention to join the CPTPP as an important part of its trade negotiation program for three reasons.

“The first is to ensure that increased business and investment opportunities will help the UK economy overcome the unprecedented challenge posed by Covid-19.

“The second is to help the UK diversify its supply chain and trade links, while improving economic security at a time of growing uncertainty and disruption around the world.

“The third is to help the UK to secure its future presence in the world and promote long-term interests,” the UK Government website said.

The UK Government determined that becoming a member of the CPTPP will help open up new opportunities for UK companies on the basis of having strong business links with member countries.

British companies have almost 98 billion pounds of investments in CPTPP member countries in 2018 and in 2019 the United Kingdom has made more than 110 billion pounds in commercial transactions with countries of this bloc.

In the trade relationship between Vietnam and the United Kingdom in the period 2010-2018, the growth rate of bilateral import and export turnover increased by an average of 17.8% / year and two-way trade at the end of June 2020 reached approximately 2.5. billion dollars (Vietnam exports reached 2.2 billion dollars, imports reached 337 million dollars).

In terms of investment, the UK is among the top 20 FDI countries in Vietnam. As of July 2020, the UK has 396 valid projects investing in Vietnam, with a total registered capital of $ 3.5 billion, ranking 15th among countries and territories that have investment projects. in Vietnam, the Vietnamese media said.