ISDS Case Map
Japan
Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma on Friday said India and Japan will be able to conclude their proposed bilateral free trade pact to liberalise commerce this year.
The European Union on Wednesday agreed to launch a "joint examination" of its trade and investment ties with Japan, but waved aside Tokyo's call for preparations for an "economic integration agreement" that supporters say would benefit both sides by billions of euros a year.
Japan and the European Union are unlikely to agree on the possible launch of a joint study of a free-trade agreement when leaders meet in Tokyo on Wednesday, sources said.
The government should set up an agency to follow up the implementation of the Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement (JTEPA) in order to make it more effective, says the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI).
The Department of Pharmaceuticals (DoP) has firmly declined the commerce ministry proposal to incorporate intellectual property (IP) protection clauses, which go beyond the existing rules, as part of the free trade agreements (FTAs) being negotiated with the European Union (EU) and Japan.
The government seems in a hurry to conclude its key free trade agreements (FTAs) in 2010. Apart from aggressively aiming to conclude the EU FTA this year, not withstanding apprehensions of European parliamentarians or activists from Thailand, India and Brazil, the Japan FTA is also high on the radar.
"The [JPEPA] agreement has been signed and only the implementation is not taking place,” said Yasuhiko Arimitsu, president of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in the Philippines.
Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama has recently said that there are three key policy issues in the area of diplomacy that he intends to tackle while he is in office. One of them is signing a free trade agreement with South Korea.
"Japan insists on having more Peruvian fishing and agricultural products excluded from the agreement, but we insist on having less items out of the agreement," said Peru's minister of Foreign Trade and Tourism, Martín Pérez.
“For us, food safety based on Japan’s scientific standards is the priority,” Akamatsu said today. “The OIE standards are different from the Japanese scientific ones.”
