Leaders of the 12-nation Trans- Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade agreement would meet in Manila, Philippines on November 18 on the sidelines of APEC Leadership Summit, the White House said today.
This would be the first meeting of these 12 nations -- Brunei, Chile, New Zealand, Singapore, Australia, Canada, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, Peru, the US and Vietnam -after they reached the historic agreement together. These 12 nations represents nearly 40 per cent of the global GDP.
"This will be the first time that the leaders of the various TPP countries will be able to come together since the completion and publication of the text. So the leaders will have an opportunity to mark this enormous progress and to demonstrate their shared commitment to moving forward with TPP," Deputy US National Security Advisor Ben Rhodes said.
US President Barack Obama would be leaving Washington on a more than a week long trip to Asia that would take him to Turkey, Philippines and Malaysia.
National Security Advisor Susan Rice said TPP is central to US's vision to the region. "TPP is central to our vision of the region's future and our place in it," she said.
"One of the President's top priorities is to secure passage of TPP through Congress and to implement the agreement, which is a critical step towards a high standard, free trade area in Asia and the Pacific and our goal of revitalizing the open, rules-based economic system that the US has led since World War II," Rice said.
