Pacific trade talks have reached broad agreement on labour issues and sanitary and phytosanitary standards but some difficult aspects remain to be tackled, Japan’s chief negotiator said on Saturday.
Chief Japanese negotiator Koji Tsuruoka said the 12 member nations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) made progress at talks in Ottawa but there was no discussion about the timing of the overall accord in the regional free trade agreement.
But gaps remain to be bridged and further talks are required on issues such as intellectual property, state-owned companies and the environment, he said.