UK hopes to wrap CPTPP talks by next year: Dominic Raab

Singapore

THE United Kingdom hopes to finalise negotiations to join a Pacific free trade agreement (FTA) within the next year, said its top diplomat.

Britain and countries in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), one of the world's largest trade blocs, launched formal negotiations this week to begin its accession into the alliance.

"The hope is that over the course of this year and next year, we can make substantial progress, and possibly even conclude it," Dominic Raab, UK's First Secretary of State and Foreign Secretary, told reporters in Singapore during a trip to South-east Asia.

He added that the UK's trade deals with Japan, Vietnam and its most recent one with Australia puts it in a good "springboard" into the negotiation process.

The CPTPP, which involves 11 countries in the Pacific region with a combined gross domestic product worth about US$13.5 trillion, came into effect in December 2018.

"In terms of the future, in terms of growth markets, digital areas where the UK is particularly interested in and has a comparative advantage, it's going to be an important FTA for the UK," said Mr Raab.

In Singapore, he met Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan on Thursday to discuss security and economic cooperation, in addition to responses to regional human rights challenges and recovery from Covid-19.

Calling the UK a close friend, Mr Lee said in a Facebook post that both countries have deep and longstanding ties as well as a shared interest in upholding free trade, multilateralism and a rules-based international order.

A statement by Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Mr Raab and Dr Balakrishnan discussed ways to enhance cooperation, including in digital economy and climate change.

They also exchanged views on the Covid-19 situation and agreed to strengthen cooperation on health and the safe resumption of international travel, said the ministry.

Asked about a digital economy agreement that is already in the pipeline following the signing of an FTA last year, Mr Raab said: "We think we should put rocket boosters under this because both the UK and Singapore are global leaders in the digital economy."

He noted that in 2019, 70 per cent of UK services which were exported were delivered remotely to Singapore and this was worth over £3 billion (S$5.6 billion).

Mr Raab also visited Vietnam and Cambodia during his three-day trip to South-east Asia, and he has announced a £4.2 million official development assistance funding for science to support the region's Covid-19 response and economic recovery, as well as its transition to clean energy sources, according to the British High Commission in singapore.

In response to questions about pro-democracy newspaper Apple Daily's closure in Hong Kong, Mr Raab said Britain views its closure and the arrest of journalists "very, very seriously".

He added that it is part of the "ongoing failure" by China to comply with the joint declaration on a series of commitments to respect the freedoms of the people of Hong Kong.

"We call on China to respect the terms that it freely signed up to, and we think that's a matter of trust as well as important for the people of Hong Kong," he said.

The Sino-British Joint Declaration, signed in 1984, is a set of agreements on how Hong Kong should be governed after the city returned to Chinese rule in 1997.

Apple Daily published its final issue on Thursday following a government clampdown last week that led to the arrest of five top executives and a freeze on the paper's assets.