TPP talks due to start in mid March

With the first round of Trans Pacific Partnership talks due to start on mid March in Melbourne; AmCham is looking to pull together interest groups to follow the negotiations and to provide input.

Recently AmCham arranged a roundtable meeting for U.S. Ambassador David Huebner to meet with US pharmaceutical companies and AmCham members in this sector.

The talks will cover key areas of Investment, IP, GMO‘s, Resource Access, Environment, Labour and Regulatory frameworks. Companies that have an interest in these areas should contact Mike Hearn to register their interest. Mike@amcham.co.nz

Behind the scenes the US Chamber has been busy, beginning early this year. The business community has come together to form an informal TPP coalition which is being led cooperatively by a number of the associations in town. In addition to the Chamber, the Emergency Committee for American Trade, the National Foreign Trade Council, the ASEAN Business Council, the Coalition of Service Industries and others make up the leadership of the group. They have met a couple of times together with our collective corporate members, USTR, and the trade counselors of the TPP embassies. The goal of this group is to organize our expertise as we prepare for negotiations. They have created working groups which meet regularly with USTR staff on issues such as regulatory coherence, investment, transparency, services etc. The other purpose of the group is to avoid duplication in our outreach and advocacy work.

APCAC (Asia Pacific Council of American Chambers) sent comments to USTR as well as sending a letter to President Obama prior to the APEC meetings in November, urging his administration to support TPP. They have been working with AmCham China to ensure that the program for the Spring APCAC meeting has a regional dimension to discuss TPP and other trade issues of broad interest beyond China. They plan to issue an APCAC Report and set of recommendations at the Spring meeting, and it will highlight their support for TPP.

Steve Okun, who is chairman of AmCham Singapore, has done a masterful job of coordinating with the

Singapore offices of the various chamber organizations involved in TPP, and orchestrated a communication to the Obama Administration supporting TPP prior to APEC, and also submitted comments on TPP.

American Chamber of Commerce welcomes US P4 Negotiations

The American Chamber of Commerce in New Zealand (AmCham) welcomes the news that the US has announced the launch of negotiations regarding their inclusion in the comprehensive Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership Agreement.

This is the most significant advance in US-NZ relations for several years and is the result of concerted efforts by both Government and Business over a significant period of time.

AmCham has been actively pursuing a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the US for over a decade, regularly visiting Washington to lobby both the US Administration and Congress.

Earlier this year, AmCham hosted lead trade negotiator for the US Barbara Wisel, who was in New Zealand for P4 Negotiations. The meeting acted as a key opportunity to provide Ms Wisel with feedback from US businesses in New Zealand.

Bilateral trade is currently worth $8.23 billon, accounting for about 10% of New Zealand?s total trade and bilateral FDI is $10 billion, ranking the US as New Zealand?s second largest trading partner. Research undertaken several years ago suggested that an FTA with the USA could increase bilateral trade & investment by as much as 25% with significant positive effects to the economy.

AmCham will be working closely with its counterparts in Singapore & Chile to advance businesses interests and will be back in Washington in 2009 to work with the new Administration towards achieving the agreement.