Trade Deal: Japanese PM Abe leaves for Brussels
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Deal
Tokyo, July 5, 2017 (dpa/NAN) Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe departed from Tokyo on Wednesday to hold talks with European Union leaders in Brussels, hoping to clinch a broad trade pact between the two sides after four years of talks.
The Japan-EU free trade pact is “one of the important pillars of Abenomics,” Abe told reporters before departing for Brussels, referring to his economic policy.
“It is also very significant in promoting global free trade.”
Abe is scheduled to hold a summit meeting in Brussels with EU Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker on Thursday, a day before the G20 meeting in Germany.
Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida also left Tokyo on Wednesday to hold more talks later in the day with EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom in a bid to finalise the trade deal ahead of their leaders’ summit meeting on Thursday.
Kishida and Malmstrom met in Tokyo over the weekend for two days of talks on the proposed trade pact.
The two sides have yet to reach a final agreement on the deal as they remain divided over tariffs on cars and farm and dairy products such as cheese.
A trade deal between the two sides, a market of 637 million people, would cover about 28 per cent of the world’s economy.
The EU imposes tariffs of 10 per cent on cars and 14 per cent on electronic products, while Japan has tariffs of 29.8 per cent on cheese and 38.5 per cent on beef. (Reuters/NAN)
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Edited by Celine-Damilola Oyewole/Felix Ajide