Fifth Round of Negotiations on the Japan-Switzerland Economic Partnership Agreement (Summary)

February 8, 2008

1. The Fifth Round of Negotiations on the Japan-Switzerland Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) was held from February 4 (Mon) to 8 (Fri) in Tokyo.
2. In this Round, Mr. Jun Yokota, Representative of the Government of Japan (Chief Negotiator), and other officials from relevant ministries for the Japanese side, and Mr. Luzius Wasescha, Ambassador, Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the WTO, State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (Chief Negotiator) and other officials from relevant ministries for the Swiss side participated.
3. There was a Chief-Negotiator-level discussion on the overall negotiations at the plenary meetings. In addition, expert-level meetings in such areas as trade in goods (market access, general rules, and rules of origin), trade in services, investment, intellectual property rights, competition and other areas were held to further deepen the discussion, and progress was made in each area.
4. The Sixth Round of the Negotiations will be held in Switzerland in late May.