The first round of negotiations for the Japan-Canada Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)
Joint Press Release with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs | October 30, 2012
The First Round of Negotiations for the Japan-Canada Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA)
The first round of negotiations for the Japan-Canada Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) will be held in Tokyo from Monday, November 26 to Friday, November 30.
The first round of negotiations for the Japan-Canada Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) will be held in Tokyo from Monday, November 26 to Friday, November 30.
The participants in the meeting will be: on the Japanese side, Mr. Jun Yokota, Ambassador for International Economic Affairs (Chief negotiator of Japan), and other officials from relevant Japanese ministries; and on the Canadian side, Mr. Ian Burney, Assistant Deputy Minister for Trade Policy and Negotiations, Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade, and other officials from relevant departments of Canada.
At the meeting, opinions will be exchanged on how to proceed with the negotiations and on each negotiation field such as trade in goods and services, investment, and intellectual property rights, etc.
(Reference) Background
Joint studies were carried out on four occasions from March 2011 to January 2012.
On March 7, 2012, both countries released a joint study report concluding that "the participants of the Joint Study found sufficient common ground to launch the negotiation of a comprehensive and high-level EPA leading to additional trade flows and economic gains for both Canada and Japan."
On March 25, 2012, both countries agreed to launch the negotiation for the EPA at the Japan-Canada Summit Meeting.
On July 4, 2012, a preparatory meeting was held in Ottawa.
