23/05/2018 (Agence Europe) – European Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström hopes that the EU-Japan free trade agreement that was concluded in December 2017 will enter into force in early 2019. At the end of the EU trade ministers' meetings on Tuesday 22 May, Malmström said she hoped the agreement would be signed "in July" at the EU-Japan summit (which could take place on 11 July), then ratified by the European Parliament "by the end of 2018". The Commission presented the text of the agreement to the EU Council and European Parliament for signature and ratification on 18 April (see EUROPE 12004). The EU and Japan are continuing their discussions for an investment agreement, and agreed at the end of April to accomplish this "swiftly" (see EUROPE 12011). (EH)