ISDS Case Map
Japan
Japan will push to conclude a basic bilateral trade agreement with Thailand and Malaysia within the next few months, according to a senior trade official, who denied suggestions from a member of his own ministry that talks with those two countries had stalled.
As approved by the Council of Ministers on the Promotion of Economic Partnership on 21 December 2004
Japan and India agreed Thursday to conclude in one year the ongoing dialogue on economic cooperation, which involves the possibility of signing a free trade agreement, Japan's trade minister Shoichi Nakagawa said.
Agriculture issues are holding up progress in free trade agreement (FTA) talks between South Korea and Japan, a Korean government official said Monday.
Japan has been lagging behind other industrialized nations in pursuing bilateral or regional agreements. It now needs a strategy as it tries to catch up with the global trend.
Japan and Malaysia on Friday took a step closer to reaching a free trade agreement, clearing a key hurdle related to the agricultural, forestry and fisheries sector, government sources said.
The government on Tuesday approved a basic plan to promote free-trade agreements, prioritizing accords with Asian trading partners to help build an East Asian community. It also adopted a set of 12 criteria to choose potential FTA partners, envisioning future negotiations with trading partners outside East Asia.
Japan needs to work on loosening restrictions in domestic agriculture and labour and to work effectively to more swiftly forge free trade agreements (FTAs), the government's top advisory panel said on Monday.
Japan's Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura proposed Saturday Japan and South Korea hold talks on a free trade agreement (FTA) as early as January next year.
Negotiations to conclude a free trade agreement between Japan and South Korea are expected to face tough going because of ongoing disputes in specific areas of bilateral trade.
