Press Releases

1. The second round of negotiations on the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) will be held in Tokyo from June 24 to July 3. The meeting will be attended by, on the Japanese side, Ambassador Jun Yokota, Special Representative of the Government of Japan in charge of the Japan-EU EPA negotiations (Chief Negotiator) and representatives from other relevant ministries, and on the EU side, Mr. Mauro Petriccione, Director for Asia and Latin America, Directorate General for Trade, European Commission (Chief Negotiator) and other representatives. At the meeting, discussions will be conducted on each area, such as trade in goods, trade in services, investment, intellectual property rights, non-tariff measures, government procurement and others.
2. In addition, the second round of the negotiations on a Japan-EU Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) (*1) will be held in Brussels, Belgium, from July 3 to 5. The meeting will be attended by, on the Japanese side, Mr. Jun Yamada, Deputy Director General of the European Affairs Bureau (Chief Negotiator) and representatives from other relevant ministries, and on the EU side, Mr. Viorel Isticioaia Budura, Managing Director for Asia and the Pacific, the European External Action Service (Chief Negotiator) and other representatives.

(*1) Japan and the EU decided to use "Strategic Partnership Agreement" as a provisional title of the agreement from the second round of the negotiations in the first round of the negotiations. The agreement was previously called "Political Agreement" by Japan and "Framework Agreement" by the EU.