By Ben Otto 

BORACAY, Philippines--Chile says negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal are at the final stage, and the passage of a major legislation in the U.S. Friday moves negotiators a step closer to holding concluding meetings.

"We are in the last stage of TPP negotiations," Chile's Deputy Trade Minister Andres Rebolledo, who is representing Chile in negotiations for the trade pact, told The Wall Street Journal on Saturday.

Mr. Rebolledo, speaking on the sidelines of a regular meeting of Asia-Pacific trade ministers, said the U.S. Senate's approval of the so-called fast track legislation removes a key hurdle to holding final TPP discussions, and that discussions about the timetable for final talks could take place this weekend.

If the fast-track legislation, which gives the president powers of trade promotion authority, or TPA, gains approval from legislators in the U.S. House of Representatives, U.S. President Barack Obama would have the power to propose trade pacts to Congress that legislators could reject or accept, but not amend.

"There are many countries participating in TPP that have said it's important to have on the table all the elements and the entire context to make the last deal," Mr. Rebolledo said.

"That is going to come only in the moment that [U.S. legislators] approve TPA not only in the Senate but also in the House."

The trade deal, which has been under negotiations for more than five years, includes the U.S., Japan and other countries accounting for about 40% of the global economy.

Trade ministers in recent days canceled a ministerial meeting in Guam after "most of the countries" involved in creating the TPP objected to discussions without assurance of TPA in the U.S., he said. None of the other countries face the same procedural obstacles as the U.S., he added.

"The idea of that meeting was to make the last political deal," he said. Now that U.S. legislators are sending "good signals" on TPA, "we have to retake that idea and say when we are going to have that meeting."

Countries are discussing elements of the deal "at a technical level," Mr. Rebolledo said, and "the most important next step...is to have a meeting where you can make the last political decision."

He said there could be discussions about the timetable for final TPP talks this weekend, as ministers gather in the Philippines for an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation meeting. All 12 TPP member nations--Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Peru, Singapore, the U.S. and Vietnam--are APEC members and have representatives at the meeting, although some chief negotiators for the trade pact won't be present.

Mr. Rebolledo said negotiators for TPP and other regional pacts are "are creating the new rules" of global trade, and described the Pacific trade pact as a necessity for Chile, which depends heavily on foreign trade and is the only TPP member that has existing bilateral trade agreements with all other members. Those agreements cover around 95% of Chile's exports, he said.

He said TPP would benefit Chile's relationships with Japan, Malaysia and Canada in particular, as it would open up sectors such as agriculture, dairy and meat, which aren't covered by existing agreements.

"We are a small country," he said. "Some people say that in Chile we breathe foreign trade."

"When you're a country like this, you need rules. You need that everyone fulfills the rules, especially the big countries."

Write to Ben Otto at ben.otto@wsj.com