CPTPP is at the forefront of trading agreements, and a number of economies have expressed interest in acceding. Uruguay submitted its request to join CPTPP on 30 November 2022 and after demonstrating an ability to meet the high standards, the members announced a consensus decision to establish an accession working group with Uruguay at the 2025 Commission.
New Zealand has opened a public consultation process from June 2026 – October 2026 via the MFAT website and will also host a virtual stakeholder engagement session to help inform its approach to this accession process.
This consultation provides an opportunity for New Zealanders to share their views on Uruguay acceding to this important free trade agreement, as well as to highlight the opportunities and issues they see arising from accession. This will support New Zealand to identify priority areas, both in terms of accession candidates and aspects of the Agreement.