YAOUNDE, March 27 - Representatives of the European Union and the parties to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership on Friday agreed to press ahead with talks aimed at forging a digital trade agreement between the two blocs, Canada’s Minister of International Trade said.
Maninder Sidhu told reporters that the immediate outcome of the discussions was clear: "the concrete resolution from today’s conversation was: let’s move forward on digital trade agreement." The talks took place on the sidelines of the World Trade Organization ministerial conference in Cameroon on Friday.
Sidhu described the prospective pact as potentially historic, saying, "If this comes together, as it hopefully will, this will be historic. It will be the largest trading agreement in civilization." He highlighted the scale of the parties involved, noting that the EU and the CPTPP members together represent 1.6 billion people and economies with combined output of $35 trillion.
The CPTPP is a trade agreement that comprises 12 countries, including:
- Japan
- Britain
- Canada
- Mexico
- Australia
- Malaysia
In a separate statement, the European Union said such an accord could act as a blueprint "for a region-to-region track of work" on digital trade. An EU spokesperson described an EU-CPTPP Digital Trade Agreement as "an enormous success" and urged acceleration, adding: "We need to accelerate, as DTAs represent a future-proof layer of trade agreements."
According to Sidhu, the substance of the proposed deal would include measures on e-commerce as well as rules governing data flows and data storage. He said ministers from the two sides will continue to engage in further conversations to define what the agreement could look like.
At this stage, officials have signalled intent to move forward rather than announcing a completed instrument. Ministers agreed to keep talks going to shape the scope and form of a digital trade arrangement between the EU and CPTPP parties.