(Update 1) Ukraine Submits Request to Join CPTPP Trade Pact

The Yomiuri Shimbun

12:16 JST, July 7, 2023 (updated at 16:00 JST)

Ukraine has submitted a request to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP); a trade pact among 11 countries, including Japan, Canada and Australia; economic revitalization minister Shigeyuki Goto said Friday.

Speaking at a press conference following a Cabinet meeting on the day, Goto, who heads Japan’s CPTPP efforts, said, “We need to discern whether Ukraine can fully meet the high level required to join the TPP.”

If Ukraine’s bid is successful, it will be the second time for a European country to join CPTPP after Britain, which inked an agreement in March and is set to join officially on July 16.

A ministerial-level meeting of the CPTPP is scheduled to take place in New Zealand on July 15-16, and attention will be focused on whether Ukraine’s potential membership will be an agenda issue.

The pact came into force in 2018. China, Taiwan, Uruguay, Ecuador and Costa Rica have also applied to join.