Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Friday urged his nation's Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact negotiators to make all-out efforts toward an agreement at their upcoming meeting in Atlanta.
"I hope the next ministerial meeting will be the last one," Abe said at a meeting with ministers engaged in negotiating the proposed free trade bloc. Nations failed to strike a deal during their last talks, in July.
The United States said Thursday that it and the 11 other countries, which include Canada and Mexico, will hold two-day ministerial talks on the free trade pact from Wednesday in Atlanta.