South Korea to apply to join Trans-Pacific Partnership

The Republic of Korea will apply to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) in April 2022, Report informs via TASS.

Earlier, the South Korean government announced that it had initiated a process of joining the agreement, which will help expand trade and investment, as well as raise the country's status in world trade.

The initial Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, after seven years of negotiations, was signed on February 6, 2016, in New Zealand. The document was signed by 12 states - Australia, Brunei, Vietnam, Canada, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US, Chile and Japan.

However, the former President of the United States, Donald Trump, immediately after taking office, announced the withdrawal of the United States from the TPP. As a result, the remaining 11 states signed a new document on creating a free trade zone in May 2019, called the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

The agreement entered into force on December 30, 2018. It has already been ratified by Australia, Vietnam, Canada, New Zealand, Mexico, Singapore, and Japan to date. Now 13% of the planet's GDP falls on the countries of this association, in which about 500 million people live. In December 2021, the Korean parliament also ratified the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement.