(VOVworld) – Trade Ministers from 12 countries negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement began a new round of negotiation on Wednesday in Hawaii.

A TPP negotiation in Sydney, Australia on October 25th (Photo: AFP/ VNA)

This is a final chance to reach an agreement before the US gets mired in its 2016 presidential election. The Vietnamese delegation is being led by Minister of Industry and Trade Vu Huy Hoang. The four-day negotiation will focus on regulations on intellectual property rights, labor markets, and environmental protection. The highlight of the negotiation will be the US and Japan, trying to agree on access to their agriculture and automobile markets.

The TPP negotiations began in 2005. The participants are working hard to reach an agreement as soon as possible after missing a deadline at the end of 2013. The TPP will be a free trade area with a population of 800 million, accounting for 30 percent of global trade turnover and 40 percent of the world’s economic output.