UK’s Trans-Pacific free trade bloc pact in force by mid-December

London, Aug 29: The UK confirmed on Thursday that it has now secured the sixth and final ratification required to trigger its accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) by December 15.

CPTPP is a free trade bloc spanning five continents, made up of Pacific rim countries of Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile, New Zealand, Australia, Brunei, Singapore, Malaysia, Vietnam and Japan, and almost 600 million people once the UK joins. Following Peru’s ratification of the deal for the UK to join, the agreement entered into under the previous Conservative Party government will now officially come into force under the new Labour government.

“This is good news for UK businesses, who are now one step closer to being able to take advantage of the opportunities our membership of CPTPP will bring,” said Douglas Alexander, Minister of State for Trade Policy.

“My message to businesses is to get in touch with the Department for Business and Trade (DBT) to find out how CPTPP could benefit your business, if you haven’t already. We’re extremely grateful to all the CPTPP partners that have already ratified our accession – Japan, Singapore, Chile, New Zealand, Vietnam and now Peru – and look forward to more doing so over the coming months,” he said.