Australia, Japan to resume FTA talks in Jan

Australia and Japan will hold fresh negotiations on a free trade pact in January, Australia's Trade Minister Craig Emerson said on Tuesday after talks with Japan's foreign minister.
Australia and Japan started free trade negotiations in April 2007, hoping to expand the $58 bln two-way trade relationship between the two. But the talks have become bogged down over agricultural market access. "We have agreed to re-energise the FTA negotiations, with the next round in January," Emerson told Australia's parliament, after meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Seiji Maehara in Canberra. "We encourage very strongly the minister and the Kan government in their efforts to open up the Japanese economy, including agriculture, to more foreign trade." Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan's government has warned the country must embrace free trade opportunities to shake off years of economic stagnation and persistent unemployment. Kan is considering joining Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)trade talks with nine Asia-Pacific countries, including the United States, Australia, Singapore, Brunei, New Zealand, Chile, Vietnam, Malaysia and Peru. The Japanese cabinet earlier this month shook off a protest rally by thousands of farmers and decided to begin an information gathering exercise with other TPP members. Australia and Japan have held 11 rounds of FTA talks. The trade in services is largely agreed and the last round of talks focused on food supply and business ties. On agricultural market access, detailed commodity-specific discussions continued covering wheat and sugar, with Australian negotiators demanding improved market access conditions.