Japan made its debut on Tuesday as the 12th member of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade negotiations in Malaysia, which will create one of the world’s largest free-trade areas. With only three days left in the latest round, Japan will only be involved in talks about intellectual property rights, environmental protection, and legal and institutional issues, not market approaches for which negotiations already concluded last week. Japan is seeking ways to remove trade barriers to boost exports of cars and other manufactured goods but is committed to protecting its farm products by retaining the tariffs it imposes on imports. Japanese negotiators will meet with other countries’ delegations separately to gather information and brief them on Tokyo’s point of view.

Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe walks in front of a map showing participating countries in negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). (Photo: Reuters)

Japan and the other 11 members of the TPP talks - Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the US, and Vietnam hope to reach a consensus by October and sign the deal by the end of this year.