Joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership – the CPTPP – is a huge opportunity for the UK and for Milton Keynes.
This is one of the one of the world’s largest and most dynamic free trade areas. It removes tariffs on 95% on goods between members, accounting for 13% of global GDP, which will immediately rise to 15% when we join.
But there’s so much potential there with the UK joining, the partnership wouldn’t just be across the pacific, it’d be global.
Our businesses would have access to some of the most exciting and fastest growing markets in the world – in Asia, Australasia, South America, North America.
We’re already working on bilateral agreements with Japan, Australia and New Zealand, but this partnership would mean British businesses would be able to access new customers in Canada, Chile, Mexico, Peru, Brunei, Vietnam and the really exciting markets of Malaysia and Singapore
The reason I’m excited by these markets is that they are right in MK’s sweet spot. We have high tech, high skilled jobs will put us in the global fast lane. We are one of the most productive parts of the UK and one of the most innovative.
We’ve got delivery robots, formula one teams, space technology, e-scooters, driverless cars, we’ve got a reality TV star building a nuclear reactor, which is definitely not worrying at all.
MK can be the silicon valley of Europe. We have the people, the tech and the can-do attitude
So this is my call to arms for MK businesses.
Global Britain and the new partnerships like CPTPP are huge opportunities that are there for us to seize.
There’s plenty of support available for MK businesses to go global. The Department for International Trade stands ready to provide assistance with customs authorities to ensure smooth clearance of businesses’ products, and to offer advice on intellectual property and other issues with business continuity.
MK businesses are now eligible to secure export insurance cover to markets including the EU, US, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Iceland, Norway and Switzerland, following UK Export Finance expanding the scope of its Export Insurance Policy (EXIP). Exports from the UK to these markets totalled £499 billion in 2019, accounting for 74% of all international sales from the UK.
Joining the CPTPP will put the UK at the centre of a network of free trade deals with dynamic economies – making us a hub for international businesses trading with the rest of the world.
A free trade network of spanning four continents, with a total market of 502 million people. We will put the UK at the centre of a network of modern free trade deals that support jobs and drive economic growth here at home.
It’s a free trade area which covered almost £9 trillion of GDP in 2019.
There are huge new opportunities in forward-leaning areas like digital, data, and services – all the things MK leads in.
And the CPTPP is a partnership. Unlike EU membership. joining does not require the UK to cede control over our laws, borders, or money.
Great new for businesses and great news for our economy.
Mission control, this is Global MK. We are on the launch pad and ready for lift off