Japan-EU Relations

February 17, 2017
Photo: Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida held working lunch with Dr. Cecilia Malmström, European Commissioner for Trade

 On February 17, commencing at 1:00 p.m. (local time) (9 p.m. JST) for approximately 1 hour, Mr. Fumio Kishida, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, who is visiting Bonn, invited for working lunch Dr. Cecilia Malmström, European Commissioner for Trade to discuss the negotiations on the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). The overview of the working lunch is as follows.

  1. Minister Kishida and Commissioner Malmström reaffirmed that the Japan-EU EPA is the most important agenda in the relationship between Japan and the EU, and that it is extremely important for Japan and the EU to reach an agreement on fundamental elements of the Japan-EU EPA negotiations as early as possible to counter the protectionist movements.
  2. On that basis, they shared the view that both Japan and the EU should continue the negotiations with strong will and maintain the momentum, and that the schedule of the next meeting of the negotiations needs to be arranged at officials’ level immediately.
  3. Minister Kishida and Commissioner Malmström also agreed that they directly touch with each other as necessary.

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