First Round of EU-Japan Trade Talks A Success

EU News 190/2013

MEMO/13/348
Brussels, 19 April 2013

The EU and Japan today finished the first week-long round of negotiations for a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) less than a month after negotiations were officially launched.

The EU team is headed up by Mauro Petriccione, Director in the European Commission's Directorate General for Trade, the Japanese side being led by Ambassador Jun Yokota, Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

'It's been a good start,' said Petriccione, coming out of the talks, held in Brussels. 'This is a big negotiation with some difficult issues, but I am confident we can make good progress in the months to come.'

The aim is for a comprehensive agreement in goods, services and investment eliminating tariffs, non-tariff barriers and covering other trade-related issues, such as public procurement, regulatory issues, competition, and sustainable development.

An agreement between the two economic giants is expected to boost Europe’s economy by 0.6 to 0.8 % of its GDP and will result in growth and the creation of 400.000 jobs. It is expected that EU exports to Japan could increase by 32.7%, while Japanese exports to the EU would increase by 23.5%.

The next round of negotiations will be in Tokyo 24-28 June with a further round envisaged later in the year.

Source and additional information:
http://europa.eu/rapid/press-release_MEMO-13-348_en.htm?locale=en

EU-Japan Trade graph URL

 

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