Japan and Australia agreed Thursday to promote the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership regional trade deals as a way of revitalizing pandemic-hit economies.
In a meeting in Tokyo, Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Hiroshi Kajiyama and Dan Tehan, Australia's minister for trade, tourism and investment, affirmed close cooperation in assisting Britain's accession process into the CPTPP, an 11-nation group formally known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership.
In a joint statement released after the talks, the ministers affirmed that the CPTPP and the 15-member RCEP "are critical to post COVID-19 economic recovery for the region."
Tokyo and Canberra are members of the two deals.
In the meeting, Kajiyama said, "It is timely to have an opportunity for strategic dialogue that spans both trade and energy issues."
Angus Taylor, Australia's minister for energy and emissions reduction, also joined the meeting via a videoconference.