TPP Members Start Intensive Talks on Japan

Kota Kinabalu, Malaysia, July 24 (Jiji Press)--Members of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade negotiations started Wednesday two-day intensive discussions on Japan, which made its debut in the TPP talks the previous day as the 12th member. After the first day of discussions, Koji Tsuruoka, Japan's chief negotiator, told reporters that his team "learned a great deal" and expressed Japan's basic views on a number of issues on the negotiation table. But he did not elaborate. Tsuruoka also said that Japan is believed to be able to share common goals with other member economies. In the day's intensive session, attended chiefly by top negotiators, the 11 countries including the United States explained the past TPP negotiating process and their demands on trade liberalization. Japan, for its part, apparently showed its stance of "protecting what should be protected" in line requests from the country's ruling bloc for securing tariff removal exceptions for five key agricultural items such as rice, informed sources said. After the Japan session, the 12 TPP members held informal talks that covered all trade liberalization sectors. Japan is set to speed up its work to analyze texts detailing the TPP negotiating process so far and to promote bilateral talks with each member. It plans to unveil its concrete demands in the next round of talks in late August, the sources said. END