November 30, 2024 – Vancouver, British Columbia – Global Affairs Canada

The Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) helps Canadian businesses by facilitating access to key markets and resolving trade barriers, which helps create good-paying middle-class jobs for Canadians.

The Honourable Mary Ng, Minister of Export Promotion, International Trade and Economic Development, welcomed CPTPP member ministers and heads of delegation to the eighth CPTPP Commission meeting, held in Vancouver, B.C., from November 27 to 28, 2024. 

As Chair of the 2024 CPTPP Commission, Canada sought to ensure the Agreement remains at the cutting-edge of rules-based trade policy to ensure businesses, particularly SMEs and women-led and Indigenous-led firms, can benefit from the opportunities that flow from trade.

During the meeting, CPTPP members reviewed work undertaken in 2024 as part of the CPTPP General Review and agreed to several outcomes. Members also achieved consensus to launch a working group to negotiate the accession of Costa Rica to the CPTPP, demonstrating that expansion of the CPTPP remains a core objective for members. 

Looking ahead to 2025, members agreed to:

• further collaborate in areas such as inclusive trade, economic coercion and innovation
• launch exploratory discussions to modernize the Agreement’s chapters on electronic commerce and financial services
• explore initiatives to discuss trade and investment issues with select partners to facilitate effective and timely collaboration in the spirit of rules-based trade

While at the Commission meeting, Minister Ng met bilaterally with several ministerial counterparts, including those representing Brunei, Chile, Japan, Singapore, the United Kingdom and Viet Nam, along with New Zealand and Australia, the current vice-chairs of the CPTPP Commission. The Minister stressed the importance of members’ collective support for predictable and rules-based trade in creating and upholding inclusive, resilient and innovative economies. 

On the margins of the Commission meeting, Canada organized a 2-day inclusive trade symposium that brought together government policy experts and businesses, including SMEs and Indigenous and women-led firms, to offer insights and best practices on maximizing the benefits of the CPTPP. The symposium concluded with a policy forum, co-led with the Asia Pacific Foundation of Canada (APF Canada), to discuss ways the CPTPP can remain at the cutting-edge of trade policy. The forum’s keynote event was an armchair discussion, led by Minister Ng and including panellists representing Australia, Chile, Mexico and New Zealand, on how the CPTPP can increase exporters’ use of the Agreement and support underrepresented groups. 

APF Canada launched a website to host important CPTPP public documents and statements, making the Agreement more accessible to Canadian.