Parties to TPP Agreement Open For Talks on Russian Accession

Press Secretary of the Japanese Foreign Ministry Yasuhisa Kawamura said that if Russia wanted to join the TPP, a special negotiations channel would be established to launch talks.

ANTALYA (Sputnik) — If Russia wanted to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, the parties to the agreement would be open for the talks on its accession, Press Secretary of the Japanese Foreign Ministry Yasuhisa Kawamura told Sputnik on Monday.

Earlier in November, US State Secretary John Kerry invited Russia and China to become part of the TPP.

"TPP is an open format, and if other members wish to join, we will start the negotiations," Kawamura said.

He added that if Russia wanted to join the TPP, a special negotiations channel would be established to launch talks.

On October 5, the 12 countries of the Pacific Rim region reached an agreement on the wording and subject matter of the TPP accord, intended to deregulate trade among the signatories and cover 40 percent of the world economy.

Opponents to the deal point out that the TPP has been negotiated in unusual secrecy and will have negative implications for human rights, national sovereignty, employment and the environment. The deal’s supporters claim it will spur global economic growth, shareholder profit, and create jobs.

The parties to the TPP agreement are the United States, Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam, which together account for 40 percent of international trade.

Also Press Secretary of the Japanese Foreign Ministry Yasuhisa Kawamura stated that Japanese automakers incur losses due to trade turnover decrease between Russia and Japan.

The Russian economy was hit by falling oil prices and the Western sanctions imposed against Russia over the Ukrainian crisis. In 2014, the ruble lost almost half of its value against the dollar triggering a drop of a number of cars sold in the country.

"Sixty percent of our all export to Russia are automobiles, [this export] is affected by the economic conditions in Russia," Kawamura said.

He added that the Japanese "exporters and automakers suffer" due to this situation and called to expand bilateral trade that at the moment did not correspond to the size of the two countries’ economies.