The Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) document may not be tabled in the Parliament this year because of time constraints.

Second International Trade and Industry Minister Ong Ka Chuan said the coming Dewan Rakyat sitting, which would start on Oct 19, would focus on the tabling and passing of Budget 2016.

"It is rather challenging to try to bring it to the Parliament this year but we will try. However, we need to discuss first with the Dewan Rakyat speaker (Pandikar Amin Mulia) on this.

"After all, we need to familiarise people with TPPA first because many are still confused," Ong ( photo ) told reporters after opening the 40th Wanita MCA annual general assembly in Kuala Lumpur today.

On Wednesday, International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed said Malaysia would need to get the Parliament's approval before signing the agreement.

He said even though the negotiations had concluded, Malaysia had yet to sign the agreement and the text document on it would likely be available at end of this month.

The TPPA negotiations, which were first launched in 2005, involved 12 countries, namely Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the United States, and Vietnam.

- Bernama