ID :
163823
Thu, 02/24/2011 - 18:04
Auther :

Lawmakers, experts opposing Pacific FTA join hands


TOKYO, Feb. 24 Kyodo -
Lawmakers and experts opposing a Pacific free trade agreement set up a joint group on Thursday to urge the state to take a cautious stance over the possibility of joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
The joint body, headed by Hirofumi Uzawa, professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo, plans to solicit a wider variety of people to join in their efforts to point out the problems of the TPP by holding its first forum in Kofu, Yamanashi Prefecture, on Saturday.
Prime Minister Naoto Kan has said he will decide by around June whether Japan should join the negotiations for the TPP. The pact is intended to require members in principle to reduce all tariffs to zero within 10 years, a tough condition for Japan known for its longstanding reluctance to open up its agricultural market.
''I intend to thoroughly discuss with people how the TPP could destroy Japan and what a big scar it could make on the future of Japan,'' Uzawa said at a press conference.
Masahiko Yamada, a former farm minister and a House of Representatives member of the ruling Democratic Party of Japan, assumed the post of facilitator of the joint group. He also heads an anti-TPP group of lawmakers.

X