Summary of the 13th Round of Negotiations on the Japan - India Economic Partnership Agreement

April 9, 2010
Japanese

The 13th round of negotiations on the Japan - India Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) was held from Thursday, April 8 to Friday, April 9, 2010 at the Ministry of Commerce and Industry of India in New Delhi.
The Japanese delegation was led by Mr. Masato Takaoka, Deputy Director-General of the Economic Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (coordinator for the Japanese co-chairs), and the Indian delegation was led by Mr. Dinesh Sharma, Joint Secretary of the Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce and Industry (Indian co-chair). Experts from relevant ministries and agencies from both sides also participated in the meetings.
At the round, the overall negotiations were assessed in the plenary meeting and issues such as market access of trade in goods, rules of origin, customs procedures, trade in services, investment, other areas (including government procurement, non-tariff measures), and general/final provisions were discussed in the sessions either at co-chair or expert-level.　Progress was made in many areas negotiated during this round through discussions on the draft texts of the Agreement.
Both sides decided to continue to work towards further progress in their negotiations.

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