Chilean President wearing a T-shirt that says "No TPP" prior to him being elected

Santiago de Chile, October 13 (RHC) -- The Chilean Senate has approved the entry of this South American country to the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP11), an economic integration agreement involving 11 countries.

"The Senate approved by 27 votes in favor, 10 against and one abstention, the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, known as TPP11. The draft agreement passes to the Chamber of Deputies to communicate to the Executive the approval of the National Congress," indicated the Senators' Twitter account.   The support of the upper chamber approves the project, which, however, must be ratified by the Executive Power.

The CPTPP or TPP11 is a plurilateral economic integration treaty in the Asia Pacific region.  It involves 11 countries: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, Japan, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam and its objectives include promoting economic integration, establishing predictable legal frameworks for trade, facilitating regional trade, promoting sustainable growth, among others.

Initially, the United States was one of the member countries, but in 2017 the newly inaugurated President Donald Trump (2017-2021) signed an order to withdraw his country from the agreement.

At the end of September, the Chilean parliament resumed the debate to ratify the TPP11 after three years that the project did not register significant legislative advances.

The initiative was strongly criticized by sectors of the left and environmental groups who argue that some provisions of the agreement infringe on the sovereignty of the State and the freedom to make decisions regarding the investment of transnational companies.

The president himself, Gabriel Boric, was a fierce detractor of the agreement and voted against it when the Chamber of Deputies ratified it in 2019, wearing a white T-shirt with a colorful message: "#NoTPP."