Mexico (VNA) – The Mexican Senate is sitting to consider making a decisionwhether to pass the Comprehensive andProgressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) within the tenureor not, a senator has said.

The term of the current Mexican Senate, known as the 63rd Legislature, will end on April 30, and the new term willbegin on September 1.

According to President ofthe Commerce and IndustrialDevelopment Commission of the Senate Hector Larios, senators andrepresentatives from industrial sectors analyse possible measures to addresschallenges faced by the country’s textiles and footwear sectors, as well as thosein negotiating bilateral agreements with its partners who are CPTPP members.

According to Mexico’s Ministry of Economy, CPTPP would help increase thecountry’s export turnover by 6.7 percent, contributing to 1.5 percent of Mexico’sGDP.

CPTPPis said to make Mexico face some challenges of competition, such as especiallyin textiles, footwear and dairy products.

However, other sectors will benefit from the trade pact like automobiles,machinery, leather products, beef, processed foods, fruit and vegetables.

The 11 members of the CPTPP, officially inked inChile on March 8, 2018, are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia,Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

The 11 CPTPP economies with a combinedpopulation of about 500 million make up about 13 percent of the global GDP.

With the trade pact, Mexico will have free trade activitieswith 52 countries worldwide.

The agreement will enter into force 60 days after it is fullyratified by six of the 11 members.-VNA