US, eight Asia Pacific nations aim for trade pact by 2012
Monday, 15 November 2010
YOKOHAMA, Nov 14 (AFP): The United States and eight other Pacific Rim nations aim to forge a free-trade pact before President Barack Obama hosts an APEC summit in Hawaii in a year, Chile's president said Sunday.
Leaders of the nine nations met for the first time Sunday at a summit in Japan to discuss the so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact which would oblige members to scrap tariffs and other trade barriers.
The group did not include China -- the world's number-two economy and biggest exporter -- which favours negotiating trade reforms in alternative forums that include only Asian economies and not the US.
"The goal we set out today in a meeting with President Obama is that before the next APEC meeting in November in Honolulu we will have the TPP in force, and that is a very demanding task," said Chile's President Sebastian Pinera.
"So we'll have rounds of negotiations, the first in New Zealand and the second in Chile," he said, speaking on the sidelines of a wider summit of the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.
He said that the nine countries "will hopefully be ready before we celebrate the upcoming APEC summit in Honolulu".
Leaders of the nine nations met for the first time Sunday at a summit in Japan to discuss the so-called Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) pact which would oblige members to scrap tariffs and other trade barriers.
The group did not include China -- the world's number-two economy and biggest exporter -- which favours negotiating trade reforms in alternative forums that include only Asian economies and not the US.
"The goal we set out today in a meeting with President Obama is that before the next APEC meeting in November in Honolulu we will have the TPP in force, and that is a very demanding task," said Chile's President Sebastian Pinera.
"So we'll have rounds of negotiations, the first in New Zealand and the second in Chile," he said, speaking on the sidelines of a wider summit of the 21-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.
He said that the nine countries "will hopefully be ready before we celebrate the upcoming APEC summit in Honolulu".