Russia’s Putin questions US-led TPP trade pact arrangements

Key, who is in the Philippines for the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) meetings, said New Zealand’s demand for Filipino workers particularly in the construction and health care industry also continues.

Mr Turnbull said freer trade was “absolutely critical” to regional prosperity and, in that context, the TPP was a “huge step”.

The president also praised Russia’s efforts to create a more business-friendly environment, which have resulted in the country moving up 69 points in the World Bank’s Doing Business rating – from 120th place to 51st place – over the last four years.

It was important to consider the deal in the “clear light”, he said.

“The most attractive thing is that people are starting to see the root causes of the many crises we see today”, Mackenzie McDonald Wilkins, organizer with Flush the TPP and Popular Resistance, told teleSUR English.

Freeland said she had good conversations about the issue with Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains before leaving Canada.

“On the back of policy that was there, they invested a lot of money with the view ultimately to getting a financial return and it is quite within Germany’s rights to change its perspective on whether nuclear power should but actually if you are not going to be compensated for that, how and why will any global investor make those decisions?”

The APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) would be writing to leaders of economies included in the TPP and also to APEC member economies to hasten the ratification of the TPP in order for this to come into force.

“TPP is at the heart of our shared vision for the future of this dynamic region”, Obama said.

The free trade deal is facing stiff opposition from many Democrats and unexpected resistance from Republicans.

Leaders of the trade grouping that spans the Pacific Rim met alongside a regional economic summit on Wednesday in the Philippines and President Barack Obama urged them to ratify the deal “as quickly as possible”.

“The politics of any trade agreement are hard”, Obama noted.

The United States is not a claimant in the South China Sea, but in the aftermath of World War II has helped preserve security in the region.

However, the President added that “the confidential fashion in which the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations were conducted is probably not the best way to facilitate sustainable growth in the Asia-Pacific region”.