Negotiators from the nine TPP partners now have a clearer idea about the shape of the final agreement.

Business groups at the Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) talks have got in behind the negotiations.

Business interests will be represented when Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations resume next week.

Business leaders and politicians will have another chance to cosy up to their Japanese counterparts next year.

A third Japan-New Zealand partnership forum has been scheduled to be held in Tokyo on May 11-12 next year.

NZ International Business forum executive director Stephen Jacobi said the two previous events in May 2008 and October 2009 were successful in developing new momentum in the relationship between the two countries.

“The challenging economic times in which we find ourselves demand something more than incremental progress,” he said.

While US dairy farmers are less than enthusiastic about the start of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade talks in Melbourne on Monday, New Zealand is primed to pounce.

The opening round of negotiations will be led by New Zealand whose ultimate goal is a free trade agreement with the United States.

Also involving Australia, Brunei, Chille, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam, President Barrack Obama only formally notified Congress of his intent to enter TPP negotiations on December 14.