TPPA Is Collective View Of Appropriate Standards For The Region, Says US Trade Rep

From Mohd Iswandi Kasan Anuar AUCKLAND, Feb 4 (Bernama) -- The ambitious Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) sealed Thursday, reflects a collective view of appropriate standards for the region, said United States Trade Representative Michael Froman. "This is a historic agreement we set out several years ago together -- an ambitious, comprehensive and high standard agreement. "This is the product of diverse set of countries, large and small, developed and developing, Asian and the western hemisphere countries," he told a press conference after the signing of the biggest trade deal in history. Froman also responded to concerns, by those against the TPPA, that multinationals have the "Investor State Dispute Settlement" to sue governments. "Collectively we've reached that conclusion and have advanced the ball towards making sure that ISDS procedures are used appropriately. "We've shared a number of concerns raised about the ISDS over the years. That is why this agreement goes further than any agreement before, in terms of raising the standards, adding additional procedural safeguards, closing loopholes that we've seen in other agreements around the world to ensure the government can regulate in the public interest," he said. Asked on the possibility of including China in the TPPA, Froman said, "it's important to have a constructive economic relationship with China." He maintained that trade was never directed against any particular country. The TPPA was signed by Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. Despite all the debates by respective country's chief negotiators to fine tune the best possible agreement before the signing, anti-TPPA protesters continued to show off their displeasure in several countries days before, until Thursday and even here. Early morning, security around the SkyCity Convention Centre where the TPPA signing ceremony was held, was tightened by police as large groups of protesters had assembled, handing out pamphlets and chanting out that TPPA was a bad deal. New Zealand, which hosted representatives from the 11 other countries for the event, is one of the four original members of the pact which first started off as the Trans-Pacific Economic Partnership in 2006, together with Singapore, Chile and Brunei. The country is also the legal depository of the TPPA, which means, it will be responsible to administer the agreement like accepting and circulating notifications and requests made under the TPPA. -- BERNAMA