BROAD OUTLINES ON TPP TO BE READY BEFORE APEC SUMMIT

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 21 (Bernama) -- Broad outlines of Trans-Pacific
Partnership (TPP) are expected to be ready prior to the Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) Summit in November, says a senior US official.

"The progress has been inspiring. It has been very good," said Suresh Kumar,
assistant secretary for trade promotion and director-general of the US and
Foreign Commercial Service at the US Department of Commerce and International
Trade Administration.

The eighth round of TPP negotiations ended on Sept 14 in Chicago. The next
round will be held in Lima, Peru, in the last week of October.

"Our intention is to present a fairly comprehensive proposal before the APEC
meeting so that we can move forward towards creating a common platform for all
countries to engage in.

"Once we have the broad agreement, (we hope) to expand it to other countries
in Asia so that it could be the basis of the multilateral free trade agreement,"

he told Bernama in an exclusive interview.

It is understood that the November deadline was set as many APEC economies
continue expressing interest to join in the negotiations.

"This is a very important step forward. We encourage and really appreciate
Malaysia’s integration into this and look forward to continue working
(together)," he said.

Kumar said immediately after the APEC summit, the (negotiating) team would
meet to finalise details and solve market access issues, which remain to be
concluded in the TPP agreement.

Asked when TPP will officially kick off, Kumar said: "I really can’t
speculate on this because the working groups are multilateral... many different
governments are involved.

"Everyone of us has been very aggressively moving towards finalisation
before APEC. What is more important is to having good resolutions and good
solutions. It is not something to be rushed towards meeting the official
deadline.

"We are looking forward to TPP to be concluded at a rapid pace. As at when
exactly I would not be able to give you the date."

Malaysia is the latest member in the TPP, which also includes Australia,
Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam.

International Trade and Industry Minister Datuk Seri Mustapa Mohamed
recently updated that discussions on TPP were on specifics and details of issues
such as the kind of tariffs; sectors to be opened up and also on matters related
to Malaysia's financial industry.

"It's a very comprehensive partnership, (with) negotiations covering every
sector, including government procurements," he said.

In the Chicago round, Malaysia was represented by International Trade and
Industry Ministry secretary-general Datuk Dr Rebecca Fatima Sta Maria.