Singapore has expressed support for Japan ’s early participation inthe Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations, as member countriesconcluded bilateral consultations with Tokyo.
"We are confident that Japan will be a valuable partner in thedevelopment of a high quality agreement to spur economic growth acrossthe Asia-Pacific region,” Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairsand the Ministry of Trade and Industry said in a joint statement onApril 21.
According to the statement, as theworld’s third largest economy, Japan’s inclusion has further raisedthe strategic and economic significance of the TPP and reinforced theagreement’s strategic vision of advancing regional economic integrationand promoting regional development and stability.
Earlier, trade ministers of Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile,Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, United Statesand Vietnam discussed the status of their discussions with Japanon its interest in joining the TPP.
The discussiontook place on the margins of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation(APEC) meeting of Ministers Responsible for Trade in Indonesia onApril 20.
The ministers confirmed that eachTPP member has concluded bilateral consultations with Tokyo regardingJapan ’s interest in joining the TPP. They agreed by consensus tofinalize with Japan the process for entry in a manner that allowsthe negotiations to continue expeditiously toward conclusion – as wasdone with other members that joined the negotiations in progress.
With Japan’s entry, TPP countries would account for nearly 40percent of global GDP and about one-third of all world trade.-VNA