DHAKA: Indonesia’s president says his country will join the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade deal, but cut short his US visit to deal with Indonesia’s worsening haze situation.

Joko Widodo made the comments to US President Obama at the White House, reports the BBC.

Indonesia, South East Asia’s largest economy with a population of 250 million, will join 12 countries in the world’s largest free trade area.

But forest fires there have sent a smoky haze across the entire region.

President Widodo discussed the haze situation as well as climate change with President Obama.

He linked climate change to the crisis - even though the Indonesian fires are started deliberately - as weather conditions have been drier than usual.

The TPP has been seen by some as an attempt to counterbalance growing Chinese economic influence in the region, but it has come under fire both from the political left and from economic nationalists, who claim it undermines labor rights and national sovereignty.

BDST: 1336 HRS, OCT 27, 2015
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