Obama thanks New Zealand PM for 'productive' TPP meeting

U.S. President Barack Obama called New Zealand Prime Minister John Key to discuss the "productive outcomes" of the meeting of Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) leaders, the White House said Thursday. In a phone call, Obama thanked Key for "successfully chairing" the TPP summit held in Bali, Indonesia on Tuesday, the White House said in a statement. "The two leaders welcomed the agreement among leaders that the 12 member nations will work toward concluding negotiations this year and are committed to intensifying efforts to reach the goal," the statement said. The comprehensive and high standard agreement is "a model for future trade agreements and a promising pathway to our APEC goal of building a Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific," it added. Due to the government shutdown, Obama skipped the TPP summit and the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Bali, as well as the U.S.-ASEAN summit and East Asia summit held this week in Brunei. Instead, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry attended the meetings on Obama's behalf. The TPP is a key element in the Obama administration's efforts to increase U.S. exports to vibrant economies in the Asia-Pacific region. The original TPP agreement, between Brunei, Chile, New Zealand and Singapore, was signed on June 3, 2005 and came into force on May 28, 2006. It aimed to eliminate 90 percent of tariffs between member countries by January 1, 2006 and eradicate all trade tariffs by 2015. In addition to the United States and Mexico, six more countries -- Australia, Malaysia, Peru, Canada, Japan and Vietnam -- are negotiating to join the group.