TPP Negotiators Take Stock Of Progress

by Leroy Baker, Tax-News.com, Washington

25 May 2011

Trade ministers from the nine countries involved in negotiating the extended Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) – the United States, Australia, Peru, Vietnam, Malaysia, New Zealand, Chile, Singapore and Brunei – have met to take stock of progress made so far and to consider the path forward as they seek to conclude a high-standard, regional trade agreement.

On the margins of the recent Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meeting, the ministers discussed the progress so far after six rounds of TPP negotiations and were pleased with the steady and solid progress to date in this highly complex negotiation, which shows great promise as a possible pathway to development of the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific.

It was confirmed that more than twenty negotiating teams have already consolidated texts reflecting different countries’ positions in virtually all areas to be covered by the agreement. They are now well into negotiations on each of these texts and are working to try to finalize agreement on specific legal commitments across the spectrum of their trade relationships.

At the same time, the negotiating teams have made good progress in negotiations over access to each others’ markets for industrial goods, agriculture, textiles, services, investment and government procurement.

The ministers also welcomed the creative approaches developed so far to promote cooperation on regulatory issues, develop new approaches to facilitate business and strengthen the development of supply and production chains among members, and promote the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises in trade with TPP countries. They also encouraged the negotiating groups to refine and supplement the proposals already under discussion to ensure that the agreement is as beneficial as possible to all current and future TPP members.

With three negotiating rounds ahead before the APEC Leaders’ meeting in Honolulu in November, the ministers expressed their goal of reaching the broad outlines of an agreement by then. They agreed that negotiators should intensify their consultations on issues of particular sensitivity and to make achieving an ambitious outcome in these negotiations a top priority.

It was disclosed that many other APEC countries have continued to express interest in joining the negotiations, and the TPP ministers exchanged information on the bilateral discussions they have held over the last several months. They agreed to continue to work bilaterally with interested countries, and to consider the membership of any APEC members if and when they are ready to meet the high standards of the agreement.

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