New government has right to review CPTPP, says Australia deputy high commissioner

KUALA LUMPUR: The new Malaysian government has the right to review what the previous government had signed up to in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), said the deputy high commissioner of Australia Michael Growder.
“We are all very supportive of that. Many other governments will do the same thing and it is not something (that) we have any problem with at all,” Growder said during a discussion on CPTPP here today.
“We of course hope that they (Malaysian government) would see fit to ratify (the CPTPP) as they go through with the ratification process,” he added.
Meanwhile, the high commissioner of Canada Julia Bentley, who is also one of the panelist for the event, believes that Malaysia’s top exports would benefit from the free trade agreement, which include the country’s exports of palm oil, rubber and electronic products.
“These (exports) would benefit from the tariffs reduction,” Bentley said.
The event, which is aimed to discuss the importance and benefits of CPTPP, is jointly organised by three chamber of commerce, namely the Malaysia Canada Business Council (MCBC), Malaysian Australian Business Council (MABC) and the Japanese Chamber of Trade and Industry Malaysia (JACTIM).
To date, Mexico, Japan and Singapore have ratified the CPTPP, with Australia and Chile to follow suit by year-end.