Asia-Pacific countries negotiating a vast free-trade pact are ‘nearing completion’ of a landmark agreement, US Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday, days after delegates failed to seal the deal in Hawaii. Kerry said the 12 countries including the US and Japan negotiating the Trans-Pacific Partnership had made good progress on reaching an accord following talks that ended on Friday in Maui, but ‘as with any complex negotiation…there remains details to be hashed out’. ‘My friends, this is a moment of exceptional opportunity for the Asia-Pacific. We are nearing completion of a historic Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement on trade,’ Kerry said in a lecture at the Singapore Management University. He was making a half-day visit to the city-state before attending the ASEAN Regional Forum in Kuala Lumpur. Kerry praised the trade deal — which will cover nearly 40 percent of the world’s economy — as an agreement that would have benefits beyond pure economic growth.
