WHAT started as a fledgling group of four small countries committed to removing trade barriers in 2006 has now been enlarged to seven.

On Friday, Australia and Peru said that they would join the United States in expanding the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership in March next year.

Singapore, Chile and New Zealand started the ball rolling in 2005 while Brunei joined a year later forming what is known as the P4.

In September, the US signalled its intention to join, providing a big boost to the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation forum which dedicates itself to trade and investment liberalisation.

Chilean Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley described the news as a 'positive, constructive solution to the present crisis in the world'. This is no plain vanilla FTA but an ambitious one that goes beyond World Trade Organisation standards, he noted.

He urged other Apec economies to join the pact to push forward the process of reaching the goal of a Free Trade Area for Asia-Pacific.

It was also a signal to countries that the Doha round of trade talks, stalled since July, is 'running out of time'.

The enlargement of P4, he said, demonstrated what can be done in a short period of time among like-minded countries. It provides ' flesh and substance' to Apec.

Singapore's Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang, who was at the press conference announcing the pact's expansion, described the pact as a 'very high-quality' FTA with a 'high level of ambition'.

Because it was signed by four small, like-minded countries, there are fewer areas of contention compared to what the World Trade Organisation and its 148 members face.

The rules of origin for products eligible for tariff cuts, for example, tend to be very onerous in many FTAs, requiring businesses to jump through several hoops to qualify.

In contrast, the P4 pact has very liberal rules allowing for increased trade flows.