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Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TobagoJack who wrote (83086)	11/13/2011 8:31:58 AM
From: elmatador	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 218074

Trans-Pacific Partnership pact the 9 countries -- Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam -- aim to seal the final agreement "in the coming year." 9 nations strike outline accord for Pacific free trade pact HONOLULU (Kyodo) -- Leaders from nine countries involved in negotiations for a Pacific free trade accord agreed Saturday on a broad outline of principles for the eventual Trans-Pacific Partnership pact, with the aim of reaching the final deal "as rapidly as possible." "We are delighted to have achieved this milestone in our common vision to establish a comprehensive, next-generation regional agreement that liberalizes trade and investment and addresses new and traditional trade issues and 21st-century challenges," the nine leaders said in a statement released after their meeting in Hawaii. U.S. President Barack Obama told reporters after the meeting that the nine countries -- Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam -- aim to seal the final agreement "in the coming year." "It is an ambitious goal, but we are optimistic that we can get it done," he said. Meanwhile, Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Abdul Razak suggested the nine countries will aim to strike the final agreement in July. On politically sensitive issues, such as market access to the agricultural sector, the nine leaders acknowledged difficulty in the negotiations. "We recognize that there are sensitive issues that vary for each country yet to be negotiated, and have agreed that together, we must find appropriate ways to address those issues in the context of a comprehensive and balanced package, taking into account the diversity of our levels of development," the statement said. While the nine leaders failed to mention a specific deadline for concluding the final deal on the TPP in the statement, they instructed their negotiating teams to meet in early December to continue talks and furthermore to schedule additional negotiating rounds for 2012. Obama said the TPP will boost the economies of the participating countries and will help achieve the U.S. goal of doubling exports, an initiative that he believes will lead to job creation in his country. Obama wanted to demonstrate progress on the TPP talks as his achievement to spur the U.S. economy and job growth as the 2012 presidential election is within a year. The meeting of the nine Pacific Rim leaders including Obama was held prior to the start of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit later in the day. The United States had hoped earlier this year to conclude the agreement by the APEC summit, but negotiations over politically sensitive sectors forced Washington to abandon that goal. The statement also urged other countries to join the trans-Pacific free trade pact, saying, "We have directed our negotiating teams to continue talks with other trans-Pacific partners that have expressed interest in joining the TPP in order to facilitate their future participation." On Friday, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda announced that Tokyo has decided to join the TPP talks, a decision delayed nearly five months by the more urgent need of dealing with the devastation of the March earthquake and tsunami as well as delayed by deep divisions in Japan over the wisdom of joining the trade pact. The participation of Japan will likely raise the TPP's profile, but there is also concern among some TPP countries that Tokyo's participation will delay concluding the free-trade pact even further. Referring to expected difficulty in various areas in the TPP talks, Obama said at the APEC CEO Summit, "For Japan, for example, in the agricultural sector, that's going to be a tough issue for them." "But we're not going to delay. Our goal is to try to get something done by next year," Obama said.