Concluding the free trade agreement with South Korea and negotiating the Trans Pacific Partnership were key economic parts of U.S. President Barack Obama's "rebalance" to Asia policy, a senior U.S. diplomat said Tuesday.

Assistant Secretary of State Daniel Russel made the remark during an Atlantic Council discussion, saying that upon taking office, Obama recognized that the Asia-Pacific region was emerging as the driver of global economic growth and made the region a strategic priority.

The rebalance to Asia policy meant pivoting away from an exclusive focus on the Middle East, and Obama quickly strengthened alliances with South Korea, Japan and Australia, Russel said. Obama also traveled to both Southeast and Northeast Asia in his first year in office, he said.

"And in economic and trade terms, the president set high standards and then unleashed the mighty Froman -- first to conclude the Korea-U.S. Free Trade Agreement and then to negotiate the TPP," Russel said, referring to U.S. Trade Representative Michael Froman, who served as Obama's deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs.

Russel also said the TPP, which was concluded earlier this month, is "the crown jewel of the rebalance."

"It anchors us to a region that is vital to our security and our national well-being. And it is received in the region as a proof point that America will continue to lead; that we are in the Asia-Pacific region to stay," he said.

After marathon negotiations, trade ministers of the U.S. and 11 other nations reached the landmark deal on Oct. 5, which would create the largest trading bloc in the world, accounting for about 40 percent of global gross domestic product.

The deal can take effect after ratification by each country.

Froman said that he's confident about the deal's passage through Congress.

"I'm confident we'll have bipartisan support ultimately for its approval," he said during the Atlantic Council discussion. (Yonhap)