[SYDNEY] Plans for a vast trans-Pacific free trade pact including the United States and Australia were "good" but "old-fashioned", former World Trade Organization chief Pascal Lamy said yesterday.

Mr Lamy, who stood down from the WTO in September, also said that cutting tariffs was no longer the force it once was in advancing trade, in comments to Fairfax newspapers.

"The Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement Australia is negotiating with the US and 10 other countries, it's a good, old-fashioned agreement," Mr Lamy told The Age. "It's about goods, services, government procurement, a bit of intellectual property, but it's the last of the big old-style agreements."

The Trans-Pacific Partnership has 12 prospective members - Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US and Vietnam - with trade ministers this month agreeing to intensify talks on the deal.

May 29, 2014

Source: Business Times, SG

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