ISDS Case Map
Japan
Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda is keen to relaunch stalled talks for a bilateral free trade deal with South Korea as soon as possible, Jiji Press reported Friday.
The Japanese appliances giant, Panasonic, has called for the establishment a free trade agreement between Japan and Peru.
The Japanese government hopes to reopen free trade negotiations with South Korea that have been stalled for over three years due to differences between the two sides, a Japanese newspaper said Friday.
Japanese pastors joined the calls echoed by the National Churches of the Philippines to reject the controversial Japan-Philippine Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA)
Filipino activists are spearheading an East Asian campaign to stop not only JPEPA but also other Japanese EPAs in the region.
A free trade area (FTA) agreement between the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and Japan is expected to be inked this May, a senior Thai official said Thursday.
The proposal for a “conditional concurrence” of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement (JPEPA) only means that as it stands, the treaty violates the Philippines Constitution, a coalition against the agreement said Friday.
Greenpeace says Japan is pursuing trade agreements with Southeast Asian nations “to reopen the region to toxic waste trafficking” citing an August 2006 contract between the Japanese government and Shinko Research Co. Ltd. “to assess the use of bilateral agreements 'for bidirectional movement of toxic wastes between Japan and Asian countries.'”
Anti-JPEPA groups criticized Philippine Senator Mar Roxas' statement that he will advocate ratification of the Japan-Philippines Economic Partnership Agreement as tantamount to "conditioning the public's mind that the controversial JPEPA will be ratified by the Senate very soon."
Free-trade deals had been the linchpin of a perceived strategy to break long-standing policy deadlocks in Japan, and to pry open agriculture to market mechanisms and competition. But uncertainty has set in.
