Following the October trade talks in Brunei and just prior to the 2010 APEC summit, the Peterson Institute and the Japan Economic Foundation (JEF) cohosted the conference "A Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Future of the Asia Pacific Region" on October 25, 2010. The conference aimed to assess the state of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations and help promote better understanding of the objectives and prospects for the ongoing TPP talks and for the broader APEC goal of a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP). The TPP is a criticalldy important step towards strengthening economic relationships across the Pacific, reinforcing strategic ties among partner countries, bolstering APEC, and balancing the momentum toward Asia-only economic arrangements.

Senior officials and business leaders from the United States, Japan, and New Zealand, spoke at the conference, including Congressman Kevin Brady; Kurt Campbell, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs; Noboru Hatakeyama, Japan Economic Foundation; Mark Sinclair, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand, and Barbara Weisel, Assistant USTR for Southeast Asia and the Pacific, among others. Institute speakers included C. Fred Bergsten and Jeffrey J. Schott.

Event Materials

Audio | Video

Agenda

Welcome and Introduction	C. Fred Bergsten, Director, Peterson Institute for International Economics Noboru Hatakeyama, Chairman and CEO, Japan Economic Foundation (JEF)
Session I: The Economic and Strategic Context
	Kurt Campbell, Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Akira Kojima, Senior Research Fellow, Japan Center for Economic Research (JCER) Daniel Price, Senior Partner, Sidley Austin LLP
Session II: Shaping the Trans-Pacific Partnership: Substance and Membership
	Masakazu Toyoda, Chairman and CEO of the Institute of Energy Economies, Japan Presentation [pdf] Barbara Weisel, Assistant US Trade Representative for Southeast Asia and the Pacific Mark Sinclair, Lead Negotiator, Trans-Pacific Partnership, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), New Zealand Presentation [pdf]
Session III: How Congress Views the Trans-Pacific Partnership
	Congressman Kevin Brady (R-TX)
Session IV: The Trans-Pacific Partnership and Prospects for an FTAAP
Presenters	Yoshihiro Watanabe, Advisor, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Ltd; APEC Business Advisory Council Member of Japan Presentation [pdf] Jeffrey J. Schott, Senior Fellow, Peterson Institute for International Economics Presentation [pdf]
Discussant	Peter A. Petri, Carl J. Shapiro Professor of International Finance, Brandeis University and Senior Fellow, East-West Center Presentation [pdf]
Session V: Conclusions and Recommendations
	Noboru Hatakeyama, Chairman and CEO, Japan Economic Foundation C. Fred Bergsten, Director, Peterson Institute for International Economics