The Prime Minister is backing holding Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations behind closed doors and says the public should ignore protesters "who live in a world that doesn't want to see New Zealand intersecting globally". The 15th round of TPP negotiations among 11 countries began at SkyCity in Auckland yesterday morning but were shrouded in secrecy.

WELLINGTON, Dec. 4 (Xinhua) -- The heads of the farming industry bodies in New Zealand and Australia have issued a joint call for a total end to tariffs and other trade barriers on food and agricultural products under the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade agreement. Federated Farmers of New Zealand and the National Farmers Federation of Australia made the call at the 15th round of TPP negotiations, in which they are both participating, in Auckland Tuesday.

Nearly two-thirds of the prospective candidates in the Dec. 16 general election oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade accord, which seeks the elimination in principle of all tariffs, and 40.3 percent want to abolish nuclear power soon, a survey says. While 63.2 percent of the respondents oppose Japan's participation in the TPP talks, 30.8 percent said they support it.

New Delhi: New Zealand in Friday said it expects to conclude the negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India by next year and it would work passionately to address the issue of high duties levied on its products.

SYDNEY (Jiji Press)--Eleven nations, including the United States, Australia and New Zealand, started the 15th round of Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations in Auckland on Monday. The current round, set to continue until Dec. 12, has two newcomers--Canada and Mexico--which were recently allowed to join the negotiations. The 11 countries aim to reach a conclusion by the end of 2013.

APIA, Samoa (Samoa Observer, Dec. 3, 2012) – Honey and coconut oil could be the next best thing for Samoa’s exports. That’s the opinion of the Director General of the World Trade Organization (WTO), Amomuaaletuiatua Pascal Lamy. In the country for a one-day visit on Wednesday, Amomua told the Sunday Samoan he was impressed by the companies he visited which included Yazaki Samoa Ltd, CCK Ltd and Women in Business Incorporated.

The latest round of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks have begun in New Zealand, as negotiators seek to conclude a deal in 2013. 500 negotiators have arrived in Auckland for the discussions, which run from December 3-12. Eleven countries - Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, Vietnam and the US - are now involved in the talks, which aim at establishing a comprehensive free trade agreement across the region.

US Trade Representative Ron Kirk has expressed concern about Ukraine’s plans to rethink a spate of agricultural and industrial tariffs within the WTO, something that he said “poses a systemic threat to the world trading system.” He referred to Ukraine recently indicating intent to raise tariffs on more than 350 product lines above the maximum level it negotiated to join the WTO in 2008.

When it comes to the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP, only one man's word counts. That was why Barack Obama's move to light a fire under the trade talks on the fringes of the East Asia Summit buoyed our Trade Minister Tim Groser and Prime Minister John Key. President Obama geed up the negotiators by setting an informal deadline of October 2013 to seal the deal.

HA NOI (VNS)— A free trade agreement with the EU would bring Viet Nam tangible benefits in terms of removed tariff barriers and increased legal certainty as well as wider intangible benefits that could help strengthen Vietnamese production chains, said the head of the Trade and Economic Section of the EU Delegation to Viet Nam, Jean Jacques Bouflet, at a workshop here yesterday.