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New Zealand government denies date set for TPP signing

Xinhua, January 7, 2016 Adjust font size:

The New Zealand government on Thursday denied a date had been set for the signing of the controversial 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal after a Chilean official reportedly said the signing was set for next month.

A statement from the head of Chile's General Directorate of International Economic Relations said the agreement would be signed by ministers on Feb. 4 in New Zealand, but Duty Minister Simon Bridges told Radio New Zealand that arrangements for the signing were not yet confirmed.

Auckland University Law Professor Jane Kelsey, a leading critic of the TPP deal, said it had been reported since November last year that the New Zealand government would host the meeting, and the announcement from Chile was consistent with the New Zealand government's "obsessive secrecy."

"Polls have shown the government doesn't have popular support for the deal. Presumably it wants to limit the chance for New Zealanders to make their opposition heard," Kelsey said in a statement.

"We were reliably told by offshore sources some time ago that the meeting is in Auckland, but we expect the government to try to keep the actual venue secret until much closer to the day."

A series of public meetings has been planned for New Zealand's main cities at the end of January, with speakers including Lori Wallach, director of Washington-based Public Citizen's Global Trade Watch organization.

In November, U.S. President Barack Obama announced a 90-day notice to Congress that he intended to sign the TPP deal, which runs to 6,000 pages of text.

However, commentators say getting the deal past the U.S. Congress in a presidential election year could prove difficult.

The New Zealand government claims the TPP would boost the New Zealand economy by least 2.7 billion NZ dollars (1.79 billion U.S. dollars) a year by 2030.

However, critics say it will threaten New Zealand's sovereignty and impinge on the country's ability to buy pharmaceuticals cheaply and legislate on a wide range of public interest issues, such as the environment, health and safety, and industrial relations. Enditem