HA NOI (Biz Hub) — Viet Nam and the other 11 members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership released the full text of their pact in English on Thursday Ha Noi time.
The Ministry of Industry and Trade has posted the full document along with the bilateral agreements between Viet Nam and TPP partners on http://tpp.moit.gov.vn.
According to international trade negotiation practices, an agreement is made public only after the signatories complete a legal review of it.
However, due to the the public and businesses' demand to know about the pact, the TPP countries decided to release the full document just a month after negotiations concluded in the US.
There might be some technical changes in the final version, but they would not affect the commitments made by the signatories.
The MoIT is working closely with other ministries and departments to translate the text into Vietnamese as soon as possible.
The text provides detailed information about commitments made by the member countries, as well as provisions applicable to all the parties involved.
The TPP will come into effect within 60 days after all members announce they have completed their domestic legal reviews.
No deadline has been fixed for the signing of the agreement, but it is expected to be done no later than the first quarter of next year.
After releasing the final text, each country will give all stakeholders 60-90 days to study it before signing it.
After that the agreement will be ratified by their legislatures.
Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh told online newspaper zing.vn that the TPP would take effect when at least six countries accounting for 85 per cent of the block's combined GDP approve it.
Khanh urged businesses to carefully read the full text since the TPP is a comprehensive pact that encompasses several issues.
If businesses do not have much time, they could focus on the commitment to open markets made by governments by amending taxes, services, investments and public procurement, he said. Commitments on intellectual property rights, e-commerce and State-owned enterprises are also important, he said.
He added that some laws should be amended to dovetail with TPP commitments. The Ministry of Justice and other ministries are reviewing the laws and would report to the Government soon, he added.
The TPP started out as P-4 with Chile, New Zealand, Singapore, and Mexico. The US joined in September 2008 and Viet Nam in early 2009, and the members now also include Australia, Brunei, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, and Peru.
The agreement is an important step in liberalising trade in the Asia-Pacific region.
It is expected to be a boon for manufacturing and export economies like Malaysia and Viet Nam.
Anticipated tariff breaks are already attracting record foreign investment into Vietnamese manufacturing, and the two countries are expected to see increased demand for their key products like palm oil and rubber to electronics, seafood, and textiles. — VNS