Japan’s Initial Response to the Issuing of the Chairs’ Texts on Draft Modalities of Agriculture and NAMA in the DDA

July 19, 2007

Japan appreciates the efforts of the chairs of the Agriculture and NAMA negotiating groups in producing the texts on the draft modalities on July 17th. These were issued to provide a basis for discussions to explore final landing zones as we approach the final stages of the negotiations.
In the texts, improvement has been seen regarding specific issues compared to past documents. At the same time, Japan cannot fully endorse the current version of the texts as difficulties remain, as may be the case for other WTO Members. However, Japan is prepared to be engaged in active negotiations in the multilateral fora, using these texts as a basis for discussions. Japan intends to request necessary modifications to the draft texts on specific points through the negotiation sessions to be held in Geneva next week and onwards.
Japan will participate actively in coming negotiations towards achieving a successful conclusion of this Round this year. Bearing in mind that this Round is a development round, Japan will do its utmost in cooperation with both developing and developed countries in order to ensure positive and balanced outcomes in and among all negotiating areas, including the agricultural sector where a balance should be secured between food exporting and importing countries. Japan is ready to work as a bridge builder among the Members.

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