All eyes on progress of TPP, APEC talks

The upcoming session of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations and meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum to be held in Bali, Indonesia, are expected to be closely watched for progress.

Summit and ministerial meetings of the two groups will be held in parallel from Tuesday to Oct. 8.

Participating countries in the TPP talks aim to conclude their negotiations by year-end, and the focus of attention will be whether a basic agreement to be presented at their summit meeting will have substantive contents.

The APEC meeting will be watched for progress in the Bogor Goals, which aim to liberalize trade and investment in developing countries by 2020.

The 12 countries participating in the TPP talks issued a joint statement at their August meeting in Brunei saying their summit meeting on Oct. 8 “will be an important milestone.”

Chief negotiators of the countries conducted preparatory talks in September.

This time’s TPP negotiations will be held in three stages. On Tuesday and Wednesday, the chief negotiators will summarize points of dispute among the participating countries.

The issues will be discussed at ministerial meetings on Thursday, Friday and Sunday to try to reach compromises that will be politically decided.

At the summit meeting, the leaders aim to hammer out a basic agreement based on the outcome of the ministerial meetings.

However, it is uncertain whether progress can meet expectations.

The United States and emerging countries remain at loggerheads over such issues as intellectual property, about which the lives of copyrights and patents are being discussed, and competition policies, about which emerging countries are being urged to reexamine the preferential treatment they give state-run companies.

The focus of attention is whether the countries will be able to reach major compromises at the summit and ministerial meetings.

The countries have decided to postpone the final phase of tariff negotiations until after the summit meeting, giving Japan, which aims to maintain tariffs on rice and other key agricultural products, a little more time to deal with the negotiations.

A source in the negotiations said, “If the basic agreement at the summit meeting is no more than a political show to demonstrate that progress has been made in the talks, conclusion by year-end will be impossible.”

At APEC meetings, the member countries aim to announce that the Bogor Goals, which were adapted at their meeting in Bogor, Indonesia, in 1994, will be maintained.

Then the countries will likely express appreciation for various moves toward trade liberalization, including the TPP talks and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP)—a free trade agreement scheme including East Asia.

Japan is participating in TPP, RCEP and Japan-China-South Korea FTA negotiations.

Based on this proactive participation, Tokyo aims to demonstrate that it is playing a leading role in movements to realize the Free Trade Area of the Asia-Pacific (FTAAP), which APEC members plan to eventually create.

The APEC members will also set a new goal of strengthening economic ties among the countries by improving infrastructure, such as roads and ports, and relaxing regulations and trade procedures.

The APEC members will hold ministerial meetings on Friday and Saturday, and a summit meeting from Sunday to next Tuesday.

The 21-member APEC accounts for nearly 50 percent of global trade, but its members are not legally bound to follow the grouping’s policies.

The 12 participating nations in the TPP talks, which are also APEC members, see the TPP talks as a precursor to the creation of the FTAAP.

The TPP participant countries hold meetings every year using APEC meetings as opportunities to gather, as leaders and ministers of the countries meet at a single venue.

But this year’s TPP talks are chaired by the United States, because Indonesia, which hosts the APEC meetings, is not a participant in the TPP talks.

Source: The Japan News