Policy paper

Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) joint ministerial statement, 21 November 2025

Published 21 November 2025

Naarm/Melbourne, Australia on the traditional lands of the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung and Bunurong / Boon Wurrung peoples of the Kulin Nation.

At a time when the international trading system is facing significant challenges, we commit to work together for a free, fair, open, transparent, inclusive, and rules-based trading system, with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its core.  

We welcome the outcomes delivered under the Chair’s priorities to:

• increase trade through deeper integration
• facilitate trade by improving implementation and streamlining processes
• spread the benefits of trade

Meeting the moment

We are determined to meet the moment and resolve to ensure that CPTPP continues to play a key role in fostering economic integration and supporting the prosperity of our economies. We commit to updating and enhancing the Agreement, improving implementation, and continuing to expand the CPTPP in accordance with the Auckland Principles.

We welcome the inaugural Trade and Investment Dialogues between the CPTPP and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the CPTPP and the European Union (EU), held in the margins of the Commission meeting. As affirmed in the CPTPP-ASEAN Trade and Investment Dialogue Joint Ministerial Statement and CPTPP-EU Trade and Investment Dialogue Joint Ministerial Statement, the Dialogues underscore our shared commitment to upholding fair and open trade, supporting sustainable growth and fostering a predictable trading environment.

We reaffirm our shared concerns with and opposition to economic coercion that seeks to exploit economic vulnerabilities and dependencies. Economic coercion is not in keeping with the high standards of the Agreement, or expectations of the CPTPP membership. We reaffirm our strong interest to work collaboratively in the CPTPP, to deter economic coercion and mitigate its risks.

We recognise the continued role that CPTPP mechanisms play in enabling us to collectively address the risks that market distorting practices pose to trade and investment and highlight the benefits of further dialogue between Parties towards addressing such practices. In this regard, the Parties remain committed to maintaining the integrity of the market and honouring their obligations to promote a fair, transparent and predictable trading environment.

Increasing trade through deeper integration

We celebrate the strong trade and investment relationships fostered by this Agreement and acknowledge the strategic weight of the CPTPP in the global economic architecture. We reaffirm our ambition for the CPTPP to continue to support inclusive and sustainable economic growth for all.

We welcome the substantial progress of the ongoing discussions for Costa Rica’s accession process to the CPTPP and resolve to ensure that the high standards of the Agreement are upheld. We instruct the Accession Working Group to continue discussions expeditiously and to report back in December 2025, aiming to conclude the accession process in a timely manner.

We have identified four aspirants who are in line with the Auckland Principles, namely:

• Uruguay
• the United Arab Emirates
• the Philippines
• Indonesia

We have decided to commence an accession process with Uruguay, and will commence with the others in 2026, if appropriate. This will not prevent the consideration and discussion of other accession requests. To maintain the pace of our work, in addition to meeting in December 2025 we intend to meet again in the first half of 2026, with a view to taking further decisions as appropriate.

The commencement of an accession process is not a guarantee of membership and is instead a starting point for constructive discussions on the terms and conditions for an aspirant economy’s accession, noting that conclusion requires the Commission’s approval. We emphasise that the rigorous assessment of aspirant economies’ compliance is essential to realising the benefits of market access liberalisation, including by ensuring that any illegal transhipment and related practices that evade or circumvent duties do not undermine CPTPP Parties’ economies. This helps ensure that accessions increase the Agreement’s value to our stakeholders.

Ongoing compliance with the Agreement is also critical, and we will work together to carefully monitor such compliance across the Agreement. We note that the CPTPP includes effective mechanisms and safeguards to address cases of non-compliance and other concerns, including the Commission, committees, and dispute settlement mechanisms.

We reiterate our commitment to maintaining the high standards of the Agreement through accessions, and to move forward in a way that reflects all our interests.

Facilitating trade through upgrading and improving the implementation of the Agreement

We underscore our commitment to ensuring the CPTPP remains of high standard and fit-for-purpose in addressing evolving challenges. In Melbourne, we are pleased to mark the conclusion of the first General Review of the CPTPP and endorse the recommendations outlined in the General Review Report (hereby referred to as ‘the Report’).

We thank officials for their work over three years on the General Review, informed by the 2023 Terms of Reference and the 2024 Vancouver Statement. We decide that, as a result of this Review, the Agreement’s disciplines should be updated and enhanced through negotiations on:

• electronic commerce
• trade in services
• customs administration and trade facilitation
• competitiveness and business facilitation
• trade and women’s economic empowerment

We task officials to commence negotiations from early 2026 to ensure the Report’s recommendations are carried out in a timely manner.

To further enhance the implementation and operation of the Agreement’s high standard provisions, we also task officials to finalise development of further initiatives identified in the Report, including on:

• investment
• state-owned enterprises
• innovation
• gender mainstreaming
• economic coercion
• market distorting practices

In addition to reviewing the CPTPP, we welcome the ongoing efforts to promote and report on business utilisation of the CPTPP, including:

• we welcome the initiative by Malaysia to lead the proposed cooperation between the Trade Promotion Organisations (TPO) from all Parties with the objective to increase exports of the Parties and increase utilisation of the Agreement. We look forward to Malaysia taking further next steps to enhance the cooperation between the TPOs
• we recognise the importance of collaborative work on economic quantitative analysis to assess the benefits and impacts of the CPTPP. We welcome the report on the CPTPP quantitative analysis presented during the Commission meeting as a first step to continue our cooperation in this area. Such efforts will strengthen communication with external stakeholders and provide valuable insights into the Agreement’s contribution to trade, investment, and sustainable growth

We commit to establish a Unit that will provide administrative support in the stewardship of the Agreement’s implementation and operation. In this regard, we task officials to commence discussion on the development of its functions, structure, and workplan, and report the outcomes to the Commission in 2026.

Spreading the benefits of trade

We reaffirm our commitment to ensuring that the CPTPP continues to be at the forefront of inclusive and sustainable trade arrangements. We highlight the value of the work undertaken by the Inclusive Trade Working Group in 2025 to improve understanding of the impacts of trade on women, Indigenous Peoples, micro-, small-, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), and their contributions to trade and investment within and between CPTPP Parties. We note with interest the information session on disaggregated trade data collection and utilisation held in 2025, and encourage ongoing work in this area.

We share the view that the CPTPP provides tools to help address collective environmental challenges, including the unprecedented triple planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution which are mutually reinforcing and intrinsically linked. In that vein, we encourage the Environment Committee to continue enhancing efforts to tackle these crises.

We recognise the importance of continuing discussions on sustainable agriculture and food systems and acknowledge that economies should have the flexibility to set sustainability measures which best suit their unique domestic circumstances while ensuring trade remains fair and open.

2026 Commission Chair

We look forward to working together in 2026 with Vietnam as CPTPP Chair to ensure that the CPTPP continues to play a key role in fostering economic integration and supporting the prosperity of our economies.