Minister to attend TPP ministers meeting

Trade Minister Tim Groser will depart today for Singapore to join Ministers from countries participating in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) for the next round of negotiations.

“The momentum of negotiations is accelerating, evidenced by the work completed by Ministers last December in identifying potential landing zones for the majority of key outstanding issues in the negotiations,” says Mr Groser.

“The key objective of this upcoming meeting is to focus on resolving all outstanding issues with the aim of substantively completing a comprehensive and balanced, regional agreement that achieves the goals leaders established in Honolulu in 2011.

“Concluding the TPP will open goods markets, reduce regulatory barriers, and liberalise services and investment flows. This is crucial for New Zealand because international trade and investment underpin our economic performance.”

The TPP negotiation aims to create a free trade agreement covering 12 Asia-Pacific countries: Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Viet Nam.

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