KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 23 — The cost-benefit analysis of the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) has been completed and will be distributed to federal lawmakers next week, deputy minister Datuk Ahmad Maslan said today.
The international trade and industry deputy minister said the cost-benefit analysis of the free trade treaty by auditor PricewaterhouseCoopers and non-profit research organisation Institute of Strategic and International Studies (ISIS) will be presented to ministry officials tonight and to the Cabinet on November 27.
“If we bring the cost-benefit analysis forward to next week, that means YBs have the whole of December and maybe three weeks in January [to read it],” Ahmad told Parliament here, referring to MPs by their title.
He also said Putrajaya will have two town hall meetings on the controversial Pacific trade deal for the public next month and in January.
“The ministry will give a special briefing to all MPs, Barisan Nasional (BN) and opposition, in mid January before the debate in Parliament,” said Ahmad.
The BN lawmaker also said Putrajaya believed that the TPP’s advantages outweighed the costs.
The TPP involving a dozen countries in the Pacific, including the US and Malaysia, is expected to be tabled in Parliament in January for debate.
Critics have said the released text of the TPP shows medicine prices will likely increase due to patent protections.
