Talks on a multilateral Pacific free trade agreement entered the final stretch as trade ministers from 12 countries kicked off a meeting Tuesday for make-or-break bargaining toward creating the world's largest free trade zone in decades.

The four-day meeting on the U.S.-led Trans-Pacific Partnership initiative on the Hawaiian island of Maui is viewed as the final opportunity to cut a deal by the end of the year. No further negotiating session is on the horizon given tight political schedules in the United States and some other member economies.

The trade chiefs "shared the goal of reaching a broad agreement during the current ministerial meeting," said Japanese Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Akira Amari after the first day of talks. Amari is Japan's envoy to the negotiations.