TPP talks ’on track’ for 2013 conclusion
Tax-News | 15 March 2013
TPP talks ’on track’ for 2013 conclusion
by Leroy Baker, Tax-News.com, New York
At the close of the 10-day 16th round of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations on March 13, 2013, in Singapore, the Office of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) reported that the talks had been placed on an accelerated track toward conclusion of the trade agreement this year.
The extension of the TPP is currently being led by the United States, together with Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
Assistant USTR Barbara Weisel reported that, building on the consensus the TPP countries have already achieved on a significant number of the issues under negotiation, during this round the 11 delegations intensified their drive to find mutually-acceptable paths forward on the remaining issues in the legal texts of the agreement.
The delegations were said to have succeeded in finding solutions to many issues in a wide range of areas such as customs, telecommunications, investment, services, technical barriers to trade, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, intellectual property and regulatory coherence.
In fact, some negotiating groups, including customs, telecommunications and regulatory coherence will not meet again to discuss the legal texts in future rounds and any remaining work in these areas will be taken up in late-stage rounds as the agreement is finalized. This will allow the TPP countries to concentrate their efforts on resolving the most challenging issues that remain, including those related to intellectual property, competition and environment.
The 11 countries also made progress during this round in continuing to develop the comprehensive packages that will provide market access for goods, services and investment, and government procurement. Productive exchanges occurred on tariff packages on industrial goods, agriculture, and textiles, as well as on rules of origin and how best to promote the development of regional supply chains.
It was emphasized that negotiators continued efforts to develop an ambitious and comprehensive market access package that would create new opportunities and maximize the TPP’s potential as a regional trade agreement to benefit all TPP countries.
Singapore’s Chief Negotiator and Director-General of Trade at Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ng Bee Kim, said: “There was a distinct sense that negotiations were shifting gears. As host of this round, the Singapore team was committed to invigorating negotiations, such as by exploring fresh configurations for talks.”
In mid-April, it is planned that TPP Trade Ministers will meet on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Trade Ministers meeting in Surabaya, Indonesia, to discuss progress to date and provide further guidance to negotiators. The 17th round of TPP negotiations will be held in Lima, Peru, from May 15-24.
