Japan and the United States will hold high-level talks on deregulation Nov. 6 in Washington to exchange views on procedures of the deregulation dialogue between the two countries, Foreign Ministry officials said Wednesday.At working-level talks on deregulation, the U.S. side said that it hopes to compile a new report on deregulation by the time of the Group of Eight summit next June in Cologne, Germany, the officials said. Whether to issue such an report will be discussed at the meeting, they said.At the Tokyo talks, the two sides explained each country's deregulation proposals for the other, according to the officials. The two sides will hold separate meetings on sectoral issues, including financial services, telecommunications and energy, over the next few weeks before the meeting, the officials said.The U.S. submitted more than 270 deregulation proposals to the Japanese government last week on areas including distribution and legal services. Japan reciprocated with more than 50 deregulatory proposals aimed at giving foreign companies easier access to the U.S. markets.A U.S. government official said that Japan's deregulation is important for the recovery of the Asian economy. "The need for deregulation in Japan has never been more urgent. If Japan is to serve as an engine of growth of the Asian economies, it must move forward expeditiously with an ambitious agenda on deregulation," the official said.
