MEXICO CITY – Mexico officially became the 10th member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact on Monday.

“This important achievement in trade policy … has been the result of an intense effort, which began in November 2011 when Mexico expressed its interest in being part of this agreement,” said the Economy Secretariat in a statement.

The agreement facilitates trade between powerhouse and emerging economies with Pacific coastlines, including the United States, Singapore, Malasia, Chile and Peru. Canada is scheduled to join the TPP sometime this week.

The 10 member countries contribute about 26 percent to the world’s gross domestic product.

U.S. President Barack Obama invited Mexico to join the TPP at the Group of Twenty (G20) summit meeting in Los Cabos, Baja California, in June.

“For Mexico, the strategic value of the TPP is that the agreement constitutes a platform to boost and enhance trade between our country and the Asia-Pacific region, which offers Mexico, on the one hand, the opportunity to continue diversifying its exports and, secondly, to maximize its role in global supply chains in both the U.S. market and the Asia-Pacific region,” said the secretariat. Mexico is scheduled to host a TPP meeting from Nov. 12 to 15.

October 9, 2012

Source: The News, Mexico

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