What discussions has the Cabinet Secretary had with UK Government counterparts regarding the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and how it can boost the Welsh economy?
Discussions with the UK Government took place during the negotiation stages for the UK to join CPTPP, between the former Minister for Economy and his UK counterparts in the previous UK Government via Ministerial bilateral meetings and the Ministerial Forum for Trade group.
When agreement to join CPTPP was reached in 2023 the Welsh Government published the report: The UK’s accession to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership: A Welsh Government Perspective setting out how CPTPP might impact on Wales, and the trade between Wales and CPTPP member countries.
The economic impact of the CPTPP involves adopting a broad approach that compares the UK’s performance on a range of economic indicators between a baseline scenario (prior to implementation of CPTPP) and following full implementation of the CPTPP. A comprehensive breakdown is provided at Annex 1 of the report. As the UK already has bilateral trade agreements in place with several CPTPP members, the additional economic benefit from joining CPTPP at this stage remains uncertain, particularly as there are still two members (Canada and Mexico) that have not ratified the UK’s accession to the agreement.
Our Export Action Plan sets out a comprehensive programme of support for businesses across Wales to develop new and existing overseas markets for their products and services.
This includes support and activities to inspire businesses to take up exporting, build their export capability and visit overseas markets to find new clients, including those within CPTPP as well as those which have yet to ratify the agreement.
I have continued to have bilateral meetings with the new UK government and will continue to attend the Ministerial Forum for Trade which will be the forum for future discussions relating to CPTPP.