Chairman Nakamura’s Comments on the Signing of the Japan-EU EPA

July 17, 2018

I am very happy to see that the Japan-EU EPA was signed today.

Since the Japan Foreign Trade Council first began participating in the Japan-EU EIA Task Force formed in October 2007, it has been continuously involved in efforts aimed at the realization of this EPA, and I am overjoyed to see it come to fruition.

Protectionism is on the rise around the world. Japan and the EU account for just under 30% of the world’s GDP and over 1/3 of global trade. This high-level, comprehensive economic partnership agreement between Japan and the EU will contribute to the maintenance and expansion of free trade systems and the sound development of the global economy, and we eagerly hope that the EPA rapidly goes into effect.

The Japan-EU EPA includes progressive arrangements in areas such as intellectual property rights protection and electronic trade. We are sure that it will play a major role in the formation of the international economic order of the future. Negotiations are steadily underway on the separately discussed issues of investment protection and investment dispute settlement and we look forward to agreements on these issues being reached quickly.