Meeting between Mr. Katsuya Okada, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Mr. Karel De Gucht, European Commissioner for Trade (Outline)

April 28, 2010
Japanese

On April 28, Mr. Katsuya Okada, Minister for Foreign Affairs, met with Mr. Karel De Gucht, European Commissioner for Trade, who was visiting Japan at the time, for approximately forty minutes. An outline of the meeting is as follows.

In his opening remarks, Minister Okada welcomed Commissioner De Gucht’s visit to Japan and expressed his expectation that the upcoming Japan-EU Summit would be fruitful. He also stated that he would like Japan and the EU, which share common values, to cooperate in various fields. Commissioner De Gucht expressed his support to this remark.
Minister Okada stated that he would like to move forward with works towards a Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). Commissioner De Gucht expressed his support with respect to moving forward with the works to integrate and strengthen the Japan-EU economic relationship.
Minister Okada and Commissioner De Gucht also discussed the necessity of improving access to the Chinese market as well as making improvements in other areas including infringements on intellectual property rights. They also shared the view on cooperating in a number of other fields.

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