The United States and its TPP partners – Australia, Brunei Darussalam, Chile, Malaysia, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, and Vietnam – opened the seventh round of negotiations today in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. While the round formally began today, to ensure each negotiating group had sufficient time to advance their work, several negotiating groups, including customs, services, investment, the so-called “horizontal” issues, and others, met beginning on June 15. Each group had productive discussions, helping to build momentum for this week’s negotiations.
Yesterday, stakeholders had the opportunity to provide their views directly to the TPP negotiating teams on the margins of the negotiations. About 140 stakeholders from a wide range of industry, civil society, and other groups attended, with groups from the United States, Vietnam, Australia, Malaysia, and New Zealand making presentations to the teams.
