(VOVworld) – Ministers in the 12-nation Trans-Pacific trade talks have made important progress after 4 days of meetings in Singapore. Pham Quynh Mai, Deputy Director of the Multilateral Trade Policy Department at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said participants had outlined plans to resolve a number of differences ahead of reaching a final deal.

US Trade Representative Michael Froman (in the middle) says the talks in Singapore has made remarkable progress but hasn’t reached a final deal. (Photo: thanhnien.com.vn)

Mai said the meeting had concluded without a final consensus due to differences over intellectual property rights, market access issues, and state-owned enterprise reform. Mai said it was hard for countries with export advantages to negotiate other issues unless their interests were satisfied because the TPP agreement turns on removing all types of import tariffs. More than 90% of the tariffs will be lifted as soon as the agreement comes into effect. The US and Japan are now differing over a roadmap on tax reduction and product protectionism.

Mai also attributed the inability to wrap up the trade talks in part to negotiations over admitting three new members to the TPP agreement, Canada, Japan, and Mexico. Mai comments: “to date, the TPP negotiators have basically wrapped up a number of issues and are waiting for breakthroughs in goods negotiations towards reaching final agreements and completely concluding the talks. Vietnam has joined all official and bilateral negotiations with a constructive approach. We are consistent but also flexible in protecting our views so that we can conclude the negotiations. Vietnam has been praised by other TPP members. ”