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Santiago (AFP) – The South American country’s foreign ministry sent a diplomatic note to New Zealand on Thursday in Chile’s last step to join the Trans-Pacific Free Trade Agreement.
“The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports that it sent to deposit in New Zealand today, as depositary country, the instrument of ratification of the CPTPP, which declares the end of the internal legal procedures, so that the agreement will enter into force. February 2023,” reads a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile.
On Friday morning, the Chilean government sent a notification to New Zealand, the depository country of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP). From that moment the 60-day period for the treaty to enter into force in Chile began to run.
During that period, the New Zealand government must notify all signatories to the agreement of Chile’s decision.
The CPTPP is made up of 11 Asia Pacific countries: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Mexico, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
Similarly, during these two months, the Chilean government must complete the implementation of the agreement.
It is the largest free trade agreement in the region representing about 13.5% of the global economy.
It took four years for the agreement to be ratified in Chile, during which time the country’s current president, then-Vice Gabriel Poric, opposed signing the agreement.
In fact, the deal got the green light from the Senate in its last parliamentary session on October 11, despite rejecting the ruling left-wing coalition made up of the Communist Party and the Broad Front.
After approval in the Upper House, President Boric wanted to postpone approval pending bilateral negotiations with the contracting states.
However, it has reached agreements with three of them (New Zealand, Malaysia and Mexico) and advanced with two more (Canada and Australia), so the Chilean government decided to lead the way to the last step by sending a diplomatic note.
According to the Undersecretary of International Relations, Chile has one of the largest number of trade agreements in the world after signing 32 bilateral agreements with 65 economies, including the United States, Japan and China. .
© 2022 AFP
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