TPP Trade Ministers Meeting Over The Weekend In Sydney

By Neville D'Cruz MELBOURNE (Australia), Oct 24 (Bernama) – Australia's Trade and Investment Minister Andrew Robb is hosting his counterparts from the 12 countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPP) for a three-day meeting starting Saturday in Sydney. It follows a week-long meeting of chief negotiators and officials in Canberra. "Australia is focused on ensuring the TPP will be a high-quality, comprehensive trade agreement, which will deliver strong economic outcomes for Australia and Australians," Robb said in a statement. "The TPP will forge close links between Australia and strong and growing markets in our region, enhance competitiveness, benefit Australian consumers and create Australian jobs," he said. Apart from the Ministerial meetings scheduled across the three days, the ministers are expected to meet on a bilateral basis as well to try to resolve remaining issues, including in their market access offers. Robb said Australia was pursuing a comprehensive outcome in the TPP that included better market access for Australian exporters of agricultural products, in particular in key markets, and commercially meaningful outcomes for Australian service providers and investors. "With the negotiations in their final stages, I am expecting that the ministers will be working hard with an eye to concluding the basic elements of the agreement," he said. The countries negotiating the TPP are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, New Zealand, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. The TPP countries jointly account for almost 40 per cent of the global economy. Currently, about a third of Australia's exports are headed to TPP countries. --BERNAMA