ISDS Case Map
Japan
Japanese FTAs agreed to so far are half-hearted at best.
apan and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations failed to narrow their differences on launching free trade negotiations between the two sides during a ministerial meeting on Thursday.
Thailand has been aggressively negotiating bilateral and regional trade agreements in the face of the uncertainty over whether the WTO will reach a deal on liberalizing global trade. But the agreements fail to live up to expectations of increased trade and investment.
Australia and Japan have finalised the details of a planned free-trade feasibility study, Trade Minister Mark Vaile has said. But despite the breakthrough, Mr Vaile cautioned that any deal on a free trade agreement (FTA) was still a long way off and faced political hurdles.
The Japan Business Federation, the nation's biggest business lobby, urged the government on Tuesday to start negotiations at an early date on concluding a free trade agreement with the Gulf Cooperation Council, which consists of six oil producers.
The number of Filipino nurses and caregivers who will be allowed to enter Tokyo under the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) remains to be among the contentious issues preventing both parties from sealing a bilateral accord.
Negotiations regarding the Philippine-Japan trade accord may be delayed until 2006, four months behind the government's schedule, because of the continued delay in the proceedings.
The political leaders of Thailand and Japan met last week in Tokyo to clear away some hurdles in the important negotiations for a bilateral Free Trade Agreement. This FTA, like others recently signed and vaunted by the government, is slightly misnamed because they do not even aim at actual, laissez-faire commerce.
AKBAYAN Rep. Mayong Aguja today scored the Department of Trade and Industry and the Executive for failing to fully disclose and inform the public of the exact contents of the Japan Philippines EPA.
On 1 September 2005, Mr. Junichiro Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan and Mr. Thaksin Shinawatra, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand met in Tokyo to jointly announce that agreement in principle has been reached between the Japanese side and the Thai side on all major elements of the Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement, on the basis of a series of negotiations since February 2004.
