Asia-Pacific trade ministers negotiating a huge US-led free trade area said Tuesday they were making headway but differences remain over market access.

In a joint statement at the end of a four-day meeting in Singapore, the 12 prospective members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) said they had made “further strides towards a final agreement”.

“While some issues remain, we have charted a path forward to resolve them in the context of a comprehensive and balanced outcome,” they said.

Talks in December, also in Singapore, ended with negotiators failing to meet a self-imposed deadline to reach a deal by the end of 2013.

… Deborah K. Elms, a specialist on the TPP at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, said prolonged talks could make the agreement obsolete.
“The rules that are being negotiated, depending on the industry, may turn out to be out of date by the time the rules come into effect, especially for fast moving industries like e-commerce,” she told AFP.