Freddy Svane, the newly appointed Danish ambassador to Japan, said Tuesday that the freshly concluded 12-nation Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement should lead to acceleration of free trade talks between Japan and Europe.

“I (believe) that the Trans-Pacific Partnership has to be followed by the economic partnership agreement between Japan and Europe,” Svane told The Japan Times during a courtesy visit to the newspaper’s head office.

He stressed that a delay in negotiations on the Japan-EU EPA would have a direct impact on current trade ties.