ID :
149449
Thu, 11/11/2010 - 02:33
Auther :
Shortlink :
https://www.oananews.org//node/149449
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Over 3,000 rally as farm groups protest at Pacific FTA+
TOKYO, Nov. 10 Kyodo -
Over 3,000 people staged a protest rally Wednesday in Tokyo against Japan
joining a U.S.-backed trans-Pacific free trade agreement, as Pacific Rim
ministers gathered in Yokohama where the initiative will be one of the focal
points.
The rally was quickly organized just a day after Tokyo formalized in a Cabinet
meeting a policy to begin consultations with the nine countries negotiating the
Trans-Pacific Partnership initiative with an eye to deciding whether to join
the talks around June.
At the rally held at an outdoor hall in Tokyo's Hibiya Park, members of the
Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives and other organizations including
the National Federation of Fisheries Co-operative Associations gathered from
across the country, shouting slogans such as ''Don't join the TPP'' and ''Save
Japanese agriculture.''
''Agriculture, forestry and fisheries in Japan will be wiped out'' if nothing
is done about the government's policy, said Mamoru Motegi, chairman of the
leading farm group.
Motegi said the policy was adopted with little explanation to the group
representing Japanese farmers, and may have been a ''rash judgment'' if it was
timed simply for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum's summit to be
held over the weekend in Yokohama.
At the end of the gathering, the organizations adopted a resolution opposing
Japan's possible participation in the TPP, and marched around the parliament
building and the foreign and other ministry offices.
The TPP originated in a free trade agreement among Brunei, Chile, New Zealand
and Singapore, and negotiations are now under way to expand it with five other
APEC countries, including major agricultural exporters such as the United
States and Australia.
APEC ministers who began their two-day talks Wednesday in Yokohama confirmed
the TPP as one of the possible pathways to achieving the forum's long-term goal
of creating a regionwide free trade zone during their first-day discussions.
But as it would be a high-level free trade agreement that in principle requires
member countries to scrap all tariffs in 10 years, Japan would face difficulty
even if it seeks to secure exceptions for sensitive items such as rice and
dairy products as it has done in its bilateral FTAs with individual partners.
==Kyodo
Over 3,000 people staged a protest rally Wednesday in Tokyo against Japan
joining a U.S.-backed trans-Pacific free trade agreement, as Pacific Rim
ministers gathered in Yokohama where the initiative will be one of the focal
points.
The rally was quickly organized just a day after Tokyo formalized in a Cabinet
meeting a policy to begin consultations with the nine countries negotiating the
Trans-Pacific Partnership initiative with an eye to deciding whether to join
the talks around June.
At the rally held at an outdoor hall in Tokyo's Hibiya Park, members of the
Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives and other organizations including
the National Federation of Fisheries Co-operative Associations gathered from
across the country, shouting slogans such as ''Don't join the TPP'' and ''Save
Japanese agriculture.''
''Agriculture, forestry and fisheries in Japan will be wiped out'' if nothing
is done about the government's policy, said Mamoru Motegi, chairman of the
leading farm group.
Motegi said the policy was adopted with little explanation to the group
representing Japanese farmers, and may have been a ''rash judgment'' if it was
timed simply for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum's summit to be
held over the weekend in Yokohama.
At the end of the gathering, the organizations adopted a resolution opposing
Japan's possible participation in the TPP, and marched around the parliament
building and the foreign and other ministry offices.
The TPP originated in a free trade agreement among Brunei, Chile, New Zealand
and Singapore, and negotiations are now under way to expand it with five other
APEC countries, including major agricultural exporters such as the United
States and Australia.
APEC ministers who began their two-day talks Wednesday in Yokohama confirmed
the TPP as one of the possible pathways to achieving the forum's long-term goal
of creating a regionwide free trade zone during their first-day discussions.
But as it would be a high-level free trade agreement that in principle requires
member countries to scrap all tariffs in 10 years, Japan would face difficulty
even if it seeks to secure exceptions for sensitive items such as rice and
dairy products as it has done in its bilateral FTAs with individual partners.
==Kyodo
