STATEMENT OF THE MINISTERS AND HEADS OF DELEGATION FOR THE TRANS-PACIFIC PARTNERSHIP COUNTRIES
February 25, 2014
Singapore
We, the Ministers and Heads of Delegation for Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, United States, and Vietnam, have just completed a four-day Ministerial meeting in Singapore where we made further strides toward a final agreement.
We have agreed on the majority of the landing zones identified at our last meeting. While some issues remain, we have charted a path forward to resolve them in the context of a comprehensive and balanced outcome. Through extensive bilateral meetings, we have also made progress on market access, which is an important part of our remaining work, and we will continue working toward completion of an ambitious package across all market access areas.
Following this round of talks, we will return to our capitals to undertake consultations on the outstanding issues.
We are committed to concluding as soon as possible an agreement that achieves the goals established in Honolulu in 2011, as instructed by our leaders in Bali last October. We will invest the considerable level of effort that is required to deliver such an agreement, which will create jobs for our citizens, opportunities for our businesses, and economic growth and development in each TPP country.
