Singapore to host 16th round of TPP negotiations

Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, the United States, Vietnam and Singapore, will attend the meeting.

Besides, 300 stakeholders, including business representatives, academics and non-governmental organizations from around the world, are going to attend the Stakeholders' Forum on March 6, and various seminars and panel discussion sessions.

According to the statement by the ministry, the 11 TPP countries have a combined Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of about 21 trillion U.S. dollars, which is over 50 percent of the total GDP of the 21 members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC).

Singapore had previously hosted the 6th round of the TPP negotiations in March of 2011, "where solid progress was made with substantive discussion in all areas, including goods, services, investment and government procurement," the ministry added.

The controversial TPP negotiations initially included four countries like Chile, New Zealand, Singapore and Brunei. After the U.S. decided to join the negotiations, Australia, Vietnam and Peru announced their decision to join the TPP, followed by Malaysia, Mexico and Canada.

Japan and South Korea had expressed their interest to join the TPP, however China is not invited.

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