Japan, EU Sign EPA to Promote Free Trade

Tokyo, July 17 (Jiji Press)--Leaders of Japan and the European Union signed Tuesday an economic partnership agreement designed to promote free trade between the two major economies, with both sides aiming to put it into effect in 2019. The signing took place at a meeting in Tokyo between Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and the top EU officials--European Council President Donald Tusk and Jean-Claude Juncker, president of the European Commission, the executive organ of the EU. The EPA signing is "historic," Abe said at the meeting. "While protectionist moves are spreading globally, I hope Japan and the EU will lead the world as supporters of free trade." Japan and the EU will counter protectionism, the leaders said in a joint statement issued after the meeting. Through the pact, Japan and the EU intend to assert the importance of a rules-based free trade system at a time when the protectionist policy of the administration of U.S. President Donald Trump is shaking the international community. The additional steel and aluminum tariffs introduced recently by the United States are triggering retaliatory moves from many other economies. The EPA would create a huge economic zone accounting for some 30 pct of global gross domestic product and about 40 pct of world trade. The Japanese government plans to submit a bill to ratify the EPA and relevant legislation to an extraordinary session of the Diet, Japan's parliament, that is likely to be convened in autumn. After kicking off their EPA negotiations in March 2013, Japan and the EU reached a broad accord in December last year. Japan's government expects the EPA to increase the country's real GDP by about one pct, or 5.2 trillion yen, based on data for fiscal 2016. At the day's meeting, the Japanese and EU leaders also discussed North Korean issues. At a joint press conference, Abe said that he explained to Tusk and Juncker his resolve to "deal directly with" North Korea and won their support. Tusk said the EU will continue putting pressure on North Korea, adding that he wants Pyongyang to end all of its nuclear and ballistic missile programs. He also showed support for Abe's determination to resolve the issue of North Korea's abductions of Japanese nationals. Abe was to visit Europe from last Wednesday to sign the EPA with the EU leaders at a ceremony in Brussels, where the EU's headquarters is located. But he canceled the trip to deal with fatal mudslides and floods caused by torrential rain that chiefly hit western Japan earlier this month. The venue of the signing was then switched to Tokyo on the sidelines of a China visit by Tusk and Juncker. At their summit, the leaders agreed to hold the first meeting of a planned high-level economic dialogue by the end of this year. Japan and the EU plan to discuss ways to promote trade and investment further on the assumption that the EPA will come into effect next year as envisaged. From Japan side, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Hiroshige Seko and Foreign Minister Taro Kono will take part in the dialogue, while the EU side will be represented by European Commission Vice President Jyrki Katainen, who is in charge of jobs, economic growth, investment and competitiveness. On Tuesday, Abe and the EU leaders also signed a strategic partnership agreement aimed at expanding cooperation between Japan and the EU in a wide range of areas, including security, the environment, energy and personnel exchanges. Japan and the EU reached a final agreement to allow mutual transfer of such personal data as credit card information between them. The General Data Protection Regulation that the EU put into effect in May for strengthening private information basically bans the transfer of personal data outside the EU. After Tokyo completes domestic procedures based on the latest agreement, data transfers between Japan and the EU will become possible. END