New Zealand welcomes Mexico to Pacific-wide free trade talks

WELLINGTON, June 19 (Xinhua) -- New Zealand Tuesday welcomed Mexico in joining nine other nations negotiating a controversial Pacific-wide free trade agreement.

New Zealand, which is acting as the depository of the existing Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) agreement, issued a formal statement on behalf of the nine states already in negotiations to congratulate Mexico.

New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser said the announcement was "a shot in the arm for the TPP," which underscored the importance of the negotiations.

"New Zealand's vision for the TPP has always been to create a high quality, comprehensive, 21st Century trade agreement, including comprehensive market access outcomes, which over the time will act as a platform for wider Asia-Pacific trade liberalization and economic integration," Groser said in a statement.

Mexico was New Zealand's largest goods trading partner in Latin America and 27th largest trading partner overall, with total trade worth 636 million NZ dollars (503.6 million U.S. dollars) last year.

Groser said the inclusion of Mexico in the TPP would drive the economic relationship forward and was consistent with the goal of expanding markets for New Zealand's exports and investments.

TPP Ministers met earlier this month in Kazan, Russia, and instructed negotiators to work as quickly as possible to achieve the comprehensive, high standard outcome directed by TPP leaders in Honolulu last November.

"Today's developments are a further demonstration of the groundswell of momentum continuing to grow behind this agreement," said Groser.

The next step would be for the nine current TPP participants to complete any applicable domestic legal procedures, which could take weeks or months, before Mexico could formally join the negotiations.

"I am aware that Mexico's decision to join will be closely watched by other regional trade partners, particularly Canada and Japan," said Groser.

Japan had not formally requested to join the negotiations, although it was keenly interested in the TPP's progress and was consulting domestically on next steps. Canada had formally signaled its interest in joining the negotiation and was engaged in intensive consultations with the TPP parties about its entry.

"Our position on the membership bids of Canada and Japan remains as we've previously stated. We look forward to welcoming both to the negotiation once we have established procedures for their entry that are acceptable to their governments and to ours."

Mexico will join Australia, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam in negotiations on the agreement, which has caused controversy in participating countries.

Critics say the negotiations are being carried out in secret and include investor-state clauses that will allow large multi- national corporations to hinder sovereign governments passing laws or regulatory changes, such as tobacco controls to protect public health or environmental controls on mining.

The current TPP agreement between Brunei, Chile, Singapore and New Zealand came into force in 2006, but the United States, Australia, Peru, Vietnam and Malaysia have joined negotiations to expand the agreement.

Japan, Canada and Mexico indicated their interest in joining the TPP in 2010, when the negotiations began.

June 19, 2012

Source: Xinhua