Brussels, 29/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - European and Japanese negotiators meet in Brussels this week (29 February - 4 March) for the 15th round of EU-Japan free trade negotiations.
All the chapters of the negotiations - market access (goods, services and public procurement), technical barriers to trade, regulatory cooperation, sanitary and phytosanitary measures, rules on investment, and intellectual property rights (including geographical indications) - will be addressed this week.
“We don't expect a breakthrough as the positions are still far apart”, a Commission source told EUROPE, stating that the EU wants further progress across the board - particularly on items of interest to the EU, such as lifting non-tariff measures, access to public procurement, the protection of geographical indications and the removal of tariffs on agricultural products.
Progress in the negotiations has been slow since the last bilateral summit at the end of May 2015, but the parties remain committed to concluding an agreement over the course of 2016 - as agreed by European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the G20 in Antalya in mid-November.
The last round of technical level negotiations was held in Tokyo in late November-early December 2015 (see EUROPE 11443). (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)