Question to the Department for International Trade:
To ask the Secretary of State for International Trade, what her planned timescale is for the beginning of formal discussions for the UK to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP).
On 1st February, we submitted our notification of intent to begin the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) accession process.
This is the first formal step towards accession before formal negotiations start later in the year. The CPTPP member countries are now considering our notification and will decide when to commence negotiations. These would be taken forward through an Accession Working Group to agree the terms of our accession.