New Zealand government confirms date for TPP signing

Ministers from 12 nations are to gather in Auckland next month to sign the disputed Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal, New Zealand Trade Minister Todd McClay confirmed Thursday.

The New Zealand government had issued invitations to ministers of the participating nations to a signing event on Feb. 4, McClay said in a statement.

"Signature will mark the end of the TPP negotiating process," said McClay.

"Following signature, all 12 countries will be able to begin their respective domestic ratification processes and will have up to two years to complete that before the agreement enters into force."

After signing, the New Zealand government would submit the final text of TPP to Parliament, and the legislative changes to implement the pact would then go through normal policy and Parliamentary procedures.

The TPP region accounted for 36 percent of the global economy, and more than 40 percent of New Zealand's exports, he said.

"Once TPP is fully phased in, tariffs will be eliminated on 93 percent of New Zealand's trade with our new FTA (free trade agreement) partners: the United States, Japan, Canada, Mexico and Peru," said McClay.

"TPP will ultimately give New Zealand around 260 million NZ dollars (168.06 million U.S. dollars) of tariff savings a year," he said.

In November, U.S. President Barack Obama's announced a 90-day notice to Congress that he intended to sign the TPP deal, which runs to 6,000 pages of text.

However, commentators say getting the deal past the U.S. Congress in a presidential election year could prove difficult.

The New Zealand government claims the TPP would boost the New Zealand economy by least 2.7 billion NZ dollars (1.74 billion U.S. dollars) a year by 2030.

However, critics say it will threaten New Zealand's sovereignty and impinge on the country's ability to buy pharmaceuticals cheaply and legislate on a wide range of public interest issues, such as the environment, health and safety, and industrial relations.