EU and Japanese negotiators made a new breakthrough in the 17th round of technical talks on an EU-Japan free-trade deal in Brussels on 26-30 September, moving towards the final stages in the negotiations.
A source at the European Commission told EUROPE on Friday 30 September that "the round had allowed good progress at technical level and several chapters are now almost finalised". "However, much work is still needed, especially in the key areas of the negotiations, such as tariffs, including on agricultural and processed agricultural products, services, public procurement, non-tariff measures and geographical indications", the source added.
"Only an agreement with a high level of ambition in those areas will be acceptable for us and will deliver real economic benefits to both the EU and Japan", the source stated. The aim is to keep an intense pace of negotiations in the weeks ahead, and build on the recent good progress with a view to reaching agreement by the end of the year, the source said .
Contacted this week, Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström and the new Japanese trade and economy minister, Hiroshige Seko, both said they wanted to speed up the talks, as agreed at the ASEM summit on 16 July by Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe and the president of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker.
"We all have to do our utmost to find a breakthrough so that we can conclude an agreement as soon as possible, if possible by the end of this year", Malmström said in a letter to her Japanese interlocutor on 28 September. (Original version in French by Emmanuel Hagry)