Thursday, Feb. 23, 2012

Australia refrained from declaring support for Japan's participation in negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade initiative during the two countries' first preliminary talks Tuesday in Canberra, sources said.

While Australia indicated it would welcome Japan's participation in the multilateral negotiations, it demanded Tokyo introduce a high level of farm market liberalization, the sources said.

Australia, a major agricultural exporter, has called on Japan to eliminate tariffs on beef, dairy products and sugar during separate talks over the past five years on concluding a bilateral free-trade agreement, while Japan wants the items exempted from tariff elimination. The countries failed to bridge their differences during the latest round of their FTA talks last week in Tokyo.

During the latest meeting in Canberra, Japanese officials told their Australian counterparts that Tokyo plans to place all items, including politically sensitive farm items, on the table for discussion once it fully joins the TPP talks.

Analysts say Australia is likely to decide on its official stance regarding Japan's participation in the TPP negotiations after observing Tokyo's readiness to open the farm market and the outcome of TPP preliminary consultations between Japan and the U.S.

After declaring its intention in November to join the negotiations on the tariff-cutting pact, the Japanese government needs to secure approval for its participation from all nine countries currently involved in the TPP talks.

Among the nine countries, Brunei, Chile, Malaysia, Peru, Singapore and Vietnam have already informed Japan of their support for its participation in the multilateral negotiations.

A government delegation is set to hold the second round of preliminary consultations on the TPP with the U.S. on Tuesday and Wednesday, and the first round of such talks with New Zealand on Thursday.

Denmark backs EU talks

Japan and Denmark have agreed to aim for the start of formal negotiations later this year on a free-trade agreement between Asia's second-biggest economy and the European Union.

The target was confirmed by Foreign Minister Koichiro Genba and Danish trade minister Pia Olsen Dyhr in Tokyo Tuesday, a Japanese official said.

"I would like to advance negotiations on an economic partnership agreement between Japan and the European Union," Genba said at the outset of their meeting.

Dyhr responded that Denmark will try to pave the way for the start of formal talks while it holds the six-month rotating presidency of the EU in the first half of this year.

Japan and the EU are currently engaged in a so-called scoping exercise aimed at identifying matters of mutual concern and interest related to an FTA.

The two sides are exploring the possibility of organizing their annual summit in May in Japan, which hopes to reach an agreement with the European Union to enter talks on the accord at the summit.

Genba also asked Dyhr to encourage the EU to ease restrictions on product imports from Japan that were imposed due to the Fukushima nuclear disaster.

"The spread of misinformation is serious," Genba said. "Based on scientific (evidence), I would like the European Union to ease the restrictions."

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