Vietnamese chief negotiator Tran Quoc Khanh has said that the eighth round of talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement has made important progress.

Khanh, who is also Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, told the Vietnam News Agency correspondent on Sept. 14 that TPP negotiating teams strived to find a common voice based on the unanimity that the TPP benefits all parties and the determination to build the TPP to be a regional cooperation model.

The round of negotiations has recorded results in goods market access, service market and government procurement.

In addition, encouraging results were also recorded in methods to help developing nations implement the TPP in the future and how to create a fair playground for all businesses and favourable conditions for the development of supplying chains in the region, Khanh said.

Khanh said he believed that TPP negotiating groups will achieve a framework agreement prior to the APEC Summit in November in Hawaii.

Nine TPP partner countries are New Zealand, Brunei, Chile, Singapore, Australia, Malaysia, the US, Vietnam and Peru.

The 30-member Vietnam negotiating team joined around 420 stakeholders at the eighth round of negotiation that took place from Sept. 6-15 in Chicago, the US.

TPP negotiating teams, including the US, have not yet made the final proposals for the fields of labour and trade, Khanh said, expressing the hope that all parties will put forward their final proposals for all fields at the next round of negotiation slated for Peru in late October./.