Credit: Original article can be found here
Facts for Prelims (FFP)
Source: LM, IE
Context: Finland became the 31st member of NATO. Also, Britain will become the 12th member to join CPTPP (Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership) -the first to join the partnership since its inception.
Reasons:
| Finland | Britain |
| Finland shares a 1,340km long border with Russia and had signed a “friendship agreement,” with the Soviet Union to be a neutral country (Military non-alignment- ‘Finlandisation’). However, after Russia launched the invasion of Ukraine last year, Finland decided to join NATO.
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Britain joined CPTPP to build ties around the world after leaving the European Union (BREXIT).
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About NATO
| NATO | Details |
| Formation | 1949 (HQ: Brussels, Belgium) |
| Members | 31 member countries (as of 2023, including Finland)
|
| Founding Members | Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States |
| Article 5 | A key provision of the NATO treaty states that an attack on one member is an attack on all members. It has been invoked only once after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States. However, NATO’s protection does not extend to members’ civil wars or internal coups. |
| Alliances | Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council (EAPC), Mediterranean Dialogue, Istanbul Cooperation Initiative (ICI) |
About CPTPP:
| Participants | Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, New Zealand, Singapore and Vietnam
|
| Date signed | 8 March 2018 |
| Background | In 2005, a trade agreement between a small group of Pacific Rim countries comprising Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, and Singapore led to the formation of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) consisting of 12 nation-states. After the withdrawal of the US (2017), the remaining eleven signatories, known as the TPP-11, continued talks and their efforts led to the formation of CPTPP. |
| Significance | CPTPP removes 99% of tariffs on goods and services. It also includes commitments to combat wildlife trafficking and prevent environmental abuses such as unsustainable logging and fishing, with trade penalties for non-compliance. All 11 countries of CPTPP are also members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). |
| About Brexit | Brexit refers to the U.K.’s decision to leave the European Union. The country formally left the EU in January 2020, after a referendum in 2016.
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| India on CPTPP | India did not join CPTPP as the treaty places stricter labour and environmental standards |
