KUALA LUMPUR: The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) will provide give benefits compared to its challenges, said Minister of International Trade and Industry, Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed.
Mustapa said the government has analysed the full impact of the trade agrement and would continue to provide explanations to all levels of the society for them to gain deeper understanding.
“The ministry had conducted various dialogue sessions where I was involved in such engagements,” he said in a RTM dialogue talk show entitled “TPP Enlightenment” here today.
Mustapa stressed that the government would not make any hasty decisions.
“In any decisions, the government would consider the advantages and disadvantages of any policy,” he said.
He said the government had conducted two Cost-and-Benefit Analyses that were done by PwC Malaysia and the Institute of Strategic and International Studies Malaysia.
“Even though, the government recognised there were costs that have to be borne, the benefits outweigh the costs,” he said.
“It cannot be denied that there are several challenges that we have to face by participating in the TPP, but the government recognises that as a whole, Malaysia can stand to benefit,” he said.
He said if the country decided to be a party of the TPP, there will also be a two-year ratification period following the signing.
As such, the coming into force of the TPP was only expected to take place earliest at early 2018, he said.
The TPP countries, namely Australia, the US, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Brunei, Singapore, Japan, Vietnam and Malaysia account for almost 40 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product and a third of global trade. – Bernama