Kerry confident of concluding TPP trade pact this year

US Secretary of State John Kerry expressed confidence on Friday that an ambitious Pacific trade pact could be completed this year and said a recent nuclear deal with Iran proved hurdles in international agreements could be overcome.

Kerry said many challenges remained in thrashing out a TransPacific Partnership (TPP), particularly on issues of autos and dairy, but the US would do everything in its power to make it happen.

"There are a few remaining issues ... which I am confident will be resolved," Kerry told a news joint conference with Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh in Hanoi. "We are hoping very much that over the course of the next couple of months, before the end of the year, TPP can be completed," he said.

The US-inspired TPP is a "mega regional" accord set to cover 12 countries with a combined gross domestic product of $28 trillion (Dh102 trillion), among them Australia and Japan. Kerry likened the TPP talks to a deal negotiated over 18 months between Iran and six other countries to lift sanctions in return for curbs on a nuclear programme Iran insists is peaceful.

"It's very complicated. I will tell you that having just negotiated with Iran ... there were six of us all with expertise, all with our own opinions and we had to come together in order to agree on what we would then negotiate with Iran. "This is the same thing," he said of the TPP.

The TPP would connect the 12 economies by cutting trade barriers and harmonising standards covering twofifths of the world economy and a third of global trade.

TPP trade ministers discussing the pact, which would stretch from Japan to Chile, have said an agreement is within reach, despite the failure last week to settle differences at talks in Hawaii. Kerry met Vietnamese President Truong Tan Sang and said it was crucial to iron out remaining issues.