SINGAPORE — The chief of the World Trade Organization (WTO) said yesterday that the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade deal, if reached, would have a positive impact on the WTO’s global trade talks.

“Some suggest that such agreements may undermine our efforts to build a stronger multilateral trading system. I fundamentally disagree with that assessment,” WTO Director-General Roberto Azevedo said at a seminar organised by the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies and the Temasek Foundation in Singapore.

Elaborating on the impact of the TPP on multilateral trade talks to reporters after his speech, he said, “Many times the problems we have are precisely between those that are negotiating now bilaterally” rather than the multilateral negotiations.