Prime Minister John Key has spoken with the United States President about efforts to keep a Pacific-wide trade pact talks on track.
Mr Key says he spoke with Barack Obama by phone for fifteen minutes on his last night in Brunei updating him on the leaders meeting of the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) that took place on the sidelines of APEC in Bali earlier this week.
He chaired the meeting in place of Mr Obama who was unable to attend because of a political standoff that has partially shutdown the operations of the US government.
He says the President appeared genuinely pleased the TPP talks are still on track to be completed by the end of the year, though he recognised there are still significant hurdles to getting a deal done.
