Govt to decide on TPPA in Q3 2015

KUALA LUMPUR: The government will make a decision on whether it will join the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) or not in the third quarter this year, said Minister of International Trade & Industry Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.
He said a chief negotiators meeting will be held in mid-2015, followed by a ministerial meeting before a decision is made in the third quarter of the year.
"There is no date yet but we have to meet because there are many issues yet to be resolved. The ministers will meet in mid-June, and the cost-benefit analysis will be done in early July, so the timing is about right," he told reporters after his presentation at the TPPA Town Hall plenary session yesterday.
Mustapa said there are two studies being done, one by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) and another by Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) Malaysia. The studies are on national interest and cost-benefit analysis.
"We've given them (PwC and ISIS) terms of preference, we want them to get this done by early July. The study will be made available to Malaysians as we want this issue to be debated. It is a very important issue. Of course it will be presented to Parliament as well," he added.
He said the final decision will be guided by the cost-benefit analysis, which will be deliberated in Parliament.
The TPPA is a free trade agreement initiative involving 12 countries namely Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US and Vietnam.
To date, the TPPA has gone through a five-year negotiating process including 19 formal rounds of discussions, 12 ministerial meetings and five leaders meetings, and TPPA leaders have committed to conclude their discussions by the first half of 2015.
Currently, 10 of the TPPA's 29 chapters have been finalised while another 10 chapters are substantially finalised.
Mustapa said more work is needed on the other chapters regarding international property rights (IPR), environment, SOE, investment, goods, textiles, rules of origin, financial services and TPPA's preamble and exceptions.
He said Malaysia has made its position very clear on contentious issues in the TPPA such as on government procurement, investment, labour, environment and IPR.
"We are aware that there are many concerns over the TPPA, such as its potential impact on Malaysia's developmental goals, the bumiputra agenda as well as other issues like the price of medicine and local jobs. However, the people must know that the ministry will be vigilant in ensuring Malaysia's interests are protected.
"We are actively seeking safeguards in these critical areas, such as via carve-outs or exclusions, country specific approaches and longer transition periods," he said.
Mustapa said it will not sign the TPPA without Cabinet and Parliamentary approval. He also emphasised that Malaysia's economy depends on foreign investments, which provide huge spin-off benefits.