As trade representatives from 12 Pacific Rim countries are hammering out what could be the world's largest free trade area, they should bear in mind the terms to be written in the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement should not seek to dim the core role of the World Trade Organization in global trade liberalization.

Once signed, the TPP will form an FTA which accounts for nearly 40 percent of global output and has a population of 800 million.

However, the significance of the free trade deal is diminished by the fact that many countries in the TPP framework have already had bilateral FTA arrangements and that the United States and Japan account for about 80 percent of the trade conducted within the potential bloc.