Participants at a ministerial-level talks of the 11-member Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) on September 1 agreed to set up a subcommittee on e-commerce toward boosting trade through digitalisation.

As reported by Japan Broadcasting Corporation NHK, the virtual event, also known as TPP11, saw an agreement on holding the first working-level meeting to discuss the United Kingdom's entry in about a month.

Speaking to reporters after the meeting, Japanese Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Nishimura Yasutoshi said Britain's entry may have great importance in allowing the CPTPP rules to apply beyond the Asia-Pacific region.

He said member states are now working closely to arrange the opportunity to discuss the UK's admission.

Signed in Chile in March 2018, CPTPP now has 11 members including Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Viet Nam, accounting for 13 percent of world GDP.

It became effective on December 30, 2018 after it was ratified by Australia, Canada, Japan, Mexico, New Zealand and Singapore. In Vietnam, the deal came into force in January 2019.

In February 2021, the UK applied to join the bloc.

Source: VNA