‘Significant progress’ in TPP negotiations

PETALING JAYA: Trans-Pacific Partnership leaders have released a joint statement which has alluded at talks among member countries having made "significant" progress.
The statement was released by the Ministry of International Trade and Industry (Miti), which is yet to present a promised cost and benefit analysis which consultants have been working on for umpteen months now.
The report by the Bumiputera Agenda Empowerment Unit (Unit Peneraju Agenda Bumiputera or Teraju) and the Institute of Strategic and International Studies (Isis), which was to focus on the concerns of small-medium enterprise (SME) and bumiputras, and national interest issues was to have been completed in March this year. Seven months down the road, no mention of the report has been made.
Leaders from 12 countries said in the statement, that they were encouraged with the ministers and negotiators that have narrowed the remaining gaps on the legal text of the agreement and are intensively engaging to complete ambitious and balanced packages to open markets to one another.
"With the end coming into focus, we have instructed our ministers and negotiators to make concluding this agreement a top priority so that our businesses, workers, farmers, and consumers can start to reap the real and substantial benefits of the TPP agreement as soon as possible," they said.
"As we mobilize our teams to conclude the negotiations, we remain committed to ensuring that the final agreement reflects our common vision of an ambitious, comprehensive, high-standard, and balanced agreement that enhances the competitiveness of our economies, promotes innovation and entrepreneurship, spurs economic growth and prosperity, and supports job creation in our countries," they added.
The statement also said that the leaders are dedicated to ensuring that the benefits of the agreement serve to promote development that is sustainable, broad based and inclusive, and that the agreement takes into account the diversity of the levels of development.
"The gains that TPP will bring to each of our countries can expand even further should the open approach we are developing extend more broadly throughout the region. We remain committed to a TPP structure that can include other regional partners that are prepared to adopt its high standards," they added.
They said continued engagement will be critical as ministers work to resolve the remaining issues in the negotiation.
The statement was made jointly by the leaders of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam.