Japan supports the World Trade Organization's efforts to reach agreement on elements of the long-stalled Doha Round of trade talks before concluding an overall deal, trade minister Yukio Edano said.
"We support seeking an advance agreement to make a breakthrough in the current (deadlocked) situation," Edano said Thursday in a speech at the WTO's Ministerial Conference in Geneva, suggesting Tokyo backs moves for WTO member states to first agree on specific elements of the Doha Round trade liberalization talks, such as assistance to less-developed countries.
The WTO has for 10 years been trying to get its member countries to reach an ultimate conclusion in the Doha Round, which kicked off in November 2001. But successive deadlines have been missed due mainly to differences between industrialized and major developing economies on the agricultural and industrial sectors.
"For difficult areas, we would spare no effort to achieve progress at the negotiations by considering every possible choice flexibly," Edano said.
Addressing WTO member countries that have strengthened regulations on imports of Japanese products since the Fukushima nuclear crisis started in March, Edano called on such nations to act "calmly and based on scientific evidence."