KUALA LUMPUR (Sept 20): Malaysia has ratified the UK's accession into the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).

The country joins Japan, Singapore, Chile, New Zealand, Vietnam and Peru in completing the required in-country ratification process for the UK to join the trade pact. The agreement is also effectively Malaysia’s first bilateral free trade agreement with the UK.

“We are pleased to welcome the UK into the CPTPP family,” Minister of Investment, Trade and Industry Tengku Datuk Seri Zafrul Abdul Aziz said in a statement. “As Malaysia’s first bilateral free trade agreement with the UK, we are confident of better access for Malaysian exports to the UK.”

Once the 12-country agreement is in force, Malaysian exports to the UK will immediately benefit from duty-free treatment on 94% of tariff lines particularly on palm oil, cocoa, rubber, electronics, chemicals, as well as machinery and equipment.

With the UK’s participation, the CPTPP will account for 15% of the global economic output. Still, it is a far cry from its initial avatar — Trans-Pacific Partnership or TPP — which would have covered 40% of the global economy had the US remained as a member of the trading bloc.

Malaysia formally notified ratification to the accession protocol of the UK to the CPTPP on Sept 17. The UK signed the accession to the CPTPP on July 16, 2023.

Current members of the CPTPP are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam. The agreement is expected to enter into force by end-2024 for the UK and all parties that have ratified it.

“Malaysia’s membership of the CPTPP, the gold standard for trade agreements, has also significantly boosted our competitiveness, fostered investors’ confidence and cultivated our exporters’ deeper integration into the global supply chain,” Zafrul added.