More than 400 delegates of 12 countries are scheduled to discuss pending issues, including access to the commodity market and services, intellectual property rights, investment, the environment, and restructuring of State-owned businesses.
The 12 countries will also have bilateral talks on tariff issues, one of the difficult areas of the negotiation process.
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| Vietnamese Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang attended a TPP Ministerial Meeting in Singapore in February 2014 |
The meeting is expected to make a breakthrough in settling differences between member countries, paving the way for an early conclusion of negotiations.
In addition to addressing traditional issues such as liberalization of trade, commodities, services and investment, the trade pact also looks at new, key issues such as intellectual property rights, competitive policy, state-owned enterprises, public procurement, labour, and the environment.
The TPP members are Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States and Vietnam. They make up nearly 40% of global GDP and one third of global trade.
