Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/777084
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 25 JANUARY 2017 11 Australia and New Zealand hope to save the Trans-Pacifi c Partner- ship (TPP) by encouraging China and other Asian countries to join the trade pact after US President Donald Trump ditched the huge trade pact. The deal included a dozen Asia- Pacific nations which together account for 40% of the global economy, but Trump declared Monday he had "terminated" it in line with election pledges to scrap the "job killer" pact. Pulling out of the TPP was one of Trump's first executive orders and fulfils a long-held campaign promise. But Australia has already devised a name for a possible new agreement: TPP 12 Minus One with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull saying his government was in "active discussions" with other signatories including Japan, New Zealand and Singapore on how to salvage the agreement. "It is possible that US policy could change over time on this, as it has done on other trade deals," Turnbull told reporters in Canberra, adding that the nominee for US secretary of state Rex Tillerson and Republicans supported the TPP. "There is also the opportunity for the TPP to proceed without the United States," he added. "Certainly there is the potential for China to join the TPP." The trade agreement was negotiated by former US President Barack Obama and was aimed at deepening economic ties between its member countries, which were Japan, Malaysia, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Mexico, Chile and Peru. The agreement, the biggest trade deal in history, was seen as a counter to China's rising economic influence. It was signed last year but has not gone into effect. Trade Minister Steven Ciobo said Australia, Canada, Mexico and others had canvassed for a pact without the US at a World Trade Organisation ministerial meeting in Davos. "There would be scope for China if we were able to reformulate it to be a TPP 12 minus one, for countries like Indonesia or China or indeed other countries to consider joining," Ciobo told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. "This is very much a live option and we are pursuing it and it will be the focus of conversations for some time to come." New Zealand Prime Minister Bill English noted that Beijing "hasn't been slow to spot the opportunity" to cast itself as a free trade supporter. There was a willingness towards "making an effort to find out what we can do with TPP, rather than just dropping it and waiting and hoping to get a call (from Washington) about bilateral agreements sometime", he told reporters in Wellington. Trump said he would pursue bilateral deals with TPP signatories to secure terms more favourable to the US. But English said a US-New Zealand pact would be challenging given Trump's insistence that Washington would dictate terms. China, which was left out of the TPP deal, has its eye on its own regional trade pacts. It has suggested a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific and is supportive of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), which could see a free trade deal between countries including Australia, China, India, Japan, South Korea and New Zealand. In Davos, President Xi Jinping defended the notion of free trade and said protectionism was akin to "locking oneself in a dark room". The Chinese leader's comments were widely viewed as a reference to Trump's "America first" policies and a clear signal that Beijing saw the move as an opportunity to play an even larger role in world trade - filling the vacuum left by the US. At a press conference on Tuesday, a Beijing spokesman avoided answering questions about whether China would look to join the TPP. China had been advocating open transparent trade routes in the Pacific region "along with win win solutions," he said. "We believe in regional economic integration. We are for open and transparent regional economic arrangements. The economies of the Asia Pacific region are diverse. It's important to behave in a open way. We're ready to work with all sides to provide impetus for the Asia Pacific and the global economy." Business Today www.creditinfo.com.mt info@creditinfo.com.mt Tel: 2131 2344 Your Local Partner for Credit Risk Management Solutions Supporting you all the way Australia opens door to China to save TPP Despite America's formal withdrawal, Australia and New Zealand say they are hopeful of pressing ahead with the Trans-Pacifi c Partnership trade deal 97% of enterprises use computers and internet The National Statistics Office sur- vey on ICT usage and e-commerce among enterprises conducted in 2016 found that the vast major- ity of enterprises used computers (97.1%) and internet (96.5%). The results of the survey showed that high levels of computer use was present throughout all enterprise size classes and economic activities. The total number of employees using internet for business purposes amounted to 40,365, marking a 10.7% increase over the previous year. According to the survey, enterprises are opting for higher maximum contracted download speeds when choosing their internet service. In comparison to 2015, use of download speeds over 30Mb/s grew by 6.7 percentage points, while the use of internet speeds of less than 30Mb/s decreased by 6.5 percentage points. Furthermore, 80.4% of enterprises in 2016 had mobile access to the internet, with a total of 15,865 employees being able to connect remotely to the internet using a connection provided by their employer. This is an increase of 20.7% over 2015. The survey also found that 86.2% of enterprises using the internet had their own website, while 72.9% of enterprises using the internet also made use of social networks. An increase of 3.2 percentage points was also registered in enterprises making sales through e-commerce. In 2016, 29.5% of enterprises made use of cloud computing services, an increase of 4.1 percentage points over the previous year. This survey also showed an increase of 52 enterprises employing ICT specialists and an increase of 16 enterprises providing ICT-related training to their employees. The survey covered enterprises employing a minimum of 10 persons.