The upcoming summit of Asia-Pacific economies is unlikely to talk about expanding membership of the recently concluded Trans Pacific Partnership free trade agreement, a senior U.S. official said Monday.
  

Matt Matthews, deputy assistant secretary of state in charge of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, made the remark during a Foreign Press Center briefing previewing the Nov. 18-19 summit of APEC leaders in the Philippines, stressing that the current focus is on getting ratification for TPP.
  

"Remember, every economy that's in the Trans Pacific Partnership at present is focused on one thing. It's getting from the conclusion of negotiation to ratification within their own system. And that's precisely where the United States is," Matthews said.
  

"So our focus is completely dedicated to preparing everything we need to do to get ratification by the U.S. Congress. Until we get that done, we're not really going to be focusing on other economies," he said. "We welcome the interest of other economies in APEC who are interested in TPP, but we just have to tell folks, 'Please understand. Our focus right now is getting to ratification.'"
  

After marathon negotiations, trade ministers of the U.S. and 11 other nations reached the landmark TPP agreement on Oct. 5, which would create the largest trading bloc in the world, accounting for about 40 percent of global gross domestic product.
  

The deal can take effect after ratification by each country.
 

South Korea has expressed its interest in joining TPP. Experts say South Korea is a good candidate for new TPP membership because it has already free trade agreements with nine of the 12 TPP members. The U.S. has also welcomed Seoul's interest in TPP. (Yonhap)