New Zealand will be more focused on securing a high-quality agreement rather than sticking to a deadline to conclude the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade pact, said New Zealand Prime Minister John Key.

At the East Asia Summit in Cambodia in November last year, U.S. President Barack Obama issued a goal to wrap up the 11-nation talks, which are in the 17th round, by late this year, and Key said he was hopeful progress would be made.

"It's a complex negotiation so in the end it's got to be right and we expect a high-level comprehensive deal," Key said in an exclusive interview with Xinhua before he travels to China to pay an official visit and attend the annual Bo'ao Forum for Asia conference.

"So in the end if we were to conclude a deal slightly later, but get the right policy deal, then I think New Zealand would take that track rather than say the October deadline is a drop dead deadline," he said.

"It's very important for economic growth in all the participant countries that we conclude a good deal."

"In the end, we would love to see the conclusion of broader free trade agreements either through the WTO and Doha or RCEP ( Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership), where China is a participant and New Zealand is also a participant," he said.

"You've got some very big economies involved in that deal and not the least of them being India and (the Republic of) Korea, and obviously we have an FTA with China so we've got that sort of covered, but it's a very big grouping as well."

In November last year, 16 Asia-Pacific countries launched negotiations for the RCEP free trade agreement that would include the 10 ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) states, together with China, Australia, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea and New Zealand.

The current TPP trade agreement between Brunei, Chile, Singapore and New Zealand came into force in 2006, but the United States, Australia, Peru, Vietnam, Malaysia, Canada and Mexico have joined negotiations to expand the agreement.

Japan and Thailand have also agreed to join the TPP negotiations. Endi

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