By Krista Hughes and Ami Miyazaki
LAHAINA, Hawaii, July 27 (Reuters) - Ministers from Pacific
Rim nations hoping to finalize an ambitious free trade deal this
week warned on Monday that hurdles remained including
intellectual property and dairy.
The United States and Japan, the two biggest economies in
the talks, are both keen for strong intellectual property
protections, such as long copyright periods and data protection
for next-generation drugs.
Japanese Economy Minister Akira Amari, arriving in Hawaii
with his counterparts from the 12-nation Trans-Pacific
Partnership (TPP) countries, told reporters that the aim was to
produce a win-win outcome for all countries.
"There are a lot of difficulties to overcome with
intellectual property," he said, noting that a series of
one-on-one as well as group meetings are planned during the four
days of talks ending on Friday.
Mexico's Economy Minister Ildefonso Guajardo declined to say
if he backed the U.S. call for 12 years data protection for
biologic drugs but he was confident a deal could be reached.
"We are expecting to close off this agreement," he told
reporters.
Another major sticking point is dairy. Mexico is under
pressure to give Australia and New Zealand more access to its
markets, while Canada is also so far resisting demands to open
up its protected local industry.
"We are looking for what we call commercially meaningful
access," New Zealand Trade Minister Tim Groser told local TV 3
news. Dairy is one of New Zealand's main export earners.
"I'm not going to be dogmatic about how to define that, but
there's nothing on the table yet that allows me to recommend to
the cabinet that we should sign this deal at this point. That's
for the next few days. It's going to be hard yakka (work)."
Chambers of commerce from many of the TPP countries, which
include Singapore, Peru, Chile and Brunei, kept up pressure for
an ambitious and comprehensive agreement.
A joint statement from organizations from the United States,
Australia, Canada, Peru, Japan, Singapore, and Vietnam said that
the TPP had the potential to "create substantial new
opportunities for workers and farmers - as well as businesses of
all sizes and sectors - across the region".
The U.S. National Association of Manufacturers said
priorities for the deal included strong dispute settlement
provisions, the free flow of data across borders and a level
playing field with state-owned enterprises.
"Manufacturers will not simply provide rubber-stamp approval
for a TPP deal," NAM President Jay Timmons said.
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Factbox on outstanding issues: ID:nL1N103036
Graphic on TPP trade flows: http://link.reuters.com/vyf35w
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(Editing by Louise Ireland)