LAST month, in a low-key, virtual signing ceremony, three Asia-Pacific governments took an important step that we may look back on as a turning point in international commerce. Singapore, New Zealand and Chile signed a new kind of trade agreement - the Digital Economy Partnership Agreement (DEPA) - to secure a strong digital future. In the process, they showed real leadership at a time when international economic cooperation seems harder to come by than ever.

Fifteen years ago, these same three countries, together with Brunei, led the world by signing an high-standard trade agreement called the Trans-Pacific Strategic Economic Partnership (or "P4") Agreement, which later evolved into the breakthrough Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

At the time, I was serving as Deputy US Trade Representative in President George W Bush's administration, with responsibility for overseeing US trade relations with Asia. Having just concluded a series of bilateral free trade agreements, the P4 Agreement caught our attention as a potential model for the next phase of trade liberalisation - a plurilateral agreement that was bold and future-oriented.