Najib Razak (left) meets Shinzo Abe in Tokyo on November 16, 2016 (AFP Photo/Kimimasa Mayama)
Malaysian
leader Najib Razak expressed hope Wednesday that Japanese counterpart
Shinzo Abe can persuade US President-elect Donald Trump of the merits of
a languishing Pacific free trade deal.
The
plea from Najib came a day before Abe is set to meet Trump in New York
and as Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull also reiterated to
Japan's leader the economic and strategic importance of the
Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).
Asian
leaders are scrambling to save the TPP, championed by US President
Barack Obama but which Trump has vowed to scrap, claiming that the
12-nation deal would harm the US economy and costs jobs.
Najib and Abe, after their summit in Tokyo, told reporters that their nations are moving ahead toward ratifying the TPP.
Besides
Australia, Japan, Malaysia and the United States, the accord also
includes Brunei, Canada, Chile, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore and
Vietnam.
The
group accounts for an enormous 40 percent of the global economy, and
was envisaged as a counterweight to Asian giant China's expanding
economic influence.
"We hope that the TPP agreement will come into force," Najib told reporters with Abe by his side.
"That
is why I told Prime Minister Abe that his meeting... with
President-elect Donald Trump is very much awaited by all TPP countries."
Najib
added that he hopes the "strategic importance of the TPP will be
recognised by the incoming administration as well as by all
participating countries".
Abe's office announced that he separately spoke with Australia's Turnbull by phone to discuss the TPP.
Turnbull
highlighted his shared resolve with Japan to work with the incoming US
administration, Abe's office said in a statement.
"TPP's
significance goes beyond setting economic rules for the Asia-Pacific
region, but also has strategic significance of securing peace and
stability of the region by countries that share basic values," Abe told
Turnbull.
Abe
and other leaders of TPP countries will caucus on the sidelines of the
annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Lima, Peru that
begins this week.
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