11 TPP nations start 15th round of talks
05/12/2012 3
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SYDNEY (Jiji Press)--Eleven nations, including the United States, Australia and New Zealand, started the 15th round of Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations in Auckland on Monday.
The current round, set to continue until Dec. 12, has two newcomers--Canada and Mexico--which were recently allowed to join the negotiations.
The 11 countries aim to reach a conclusion by the end of 2013.
The six other nations are Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.
Japan is not present because it has yet to officially decide to take part in the negotiations, even though the Democratic Party of Japan-led government announced more than a year ago that it would consider participation.
The TPP is shaping up as a key issue in the Dec. 16 House of Representatives election.
In the 14th round, held in the United States in September, the nine original participants were believed to have made progress in rulemaking in wide areas, and thorny issues such as tariff elimination were discussed at bilateral meetings.
Participation by Canada and Mexico will make the TPP framework bigger, but discussions are likely to become more complicated, analysts said.
December 4, 2012
Source: Jiji Press
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