Announcement of the launch of the FTA negotiations among Japan, China and Korea

November 20, 2012
Japanese

On Tuesday, November 20, 2012, the Japan-China-ROK Economic and Trade Ministers’ Meeting was held in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. At the meeting, the launch of the FTA negotiations among Japan, China and Korea was announced.
Mr. Yukio Edano, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, Mr. Chen Deming, Minister of Commerce of the People's Republic of China, Mr. Bark Tae Ho, Minister for Trade of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea, and government officials from the three countries attended the meeting.

(Reference) Background

(1) Leaders of the three countries reached a consensus during the Second Trilateral Summit held in October 2009 that the three countries would aim at launching a Joint Study for a CJK FTA among government officials, business and academic participants. Based on this development, seven Joint Study meetings were held from May 2010, and the Joint Study was concluded in December 2011.

(2) At the Fifth Trilateral Summit Meeting in May 2012, Leaders of the three countries reached a consensus that the trilateral FTA negotiation would be launched within this year. To achieve this end, it was decided that the three countries would immediately start preparation work, including domestic procedures and working level consultations.

(3) As a part of the preparation work for launching the CJK FTA, three meetings of working level consultations were held from June to September, 2012. Issues discussed included how the preparation work including domestic procedures should proceed, and how the negotiations should be conducted. The working level consultations were concluded in September 2012.

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