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EU, Japan want early launch of new trade round

BRUSSELS: The European Union and Japan agreed on Tuesday on the need to cooperate towards the early launch of a new round of global trade negotiations after the failure of last month's Seattle conference, EU officials said.

The EU also urged Japan to press ahead with regulatory reforms at a meeting in Brussels between Japanese ministers and members of the EU's executive Commission. The 15-nation EU and Japan both support a comprehensive new round of global trade talks. They were closely allied at the December World Trade Organisation (WTO) conference in Seattle which failed to agree on the launch of a new round.

"Both the EU and Japan agree on the importance of the rule-based multilateral trading system and on the need to closely cooperate towards an early launch of negotiations on a new round...," EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten said in a statement.

The EU said Tuesday's meeting also focussed on the state of the Japanese economy and "the Commission encouraged Japan to press ahead with vigorous regulatory reforms."

Patten said a strengthened Japanese economy was essential not just for Japan but for the Asian region as a whole.

"We welcome the efforts being made by Japan to create an environment favourable to the resumption of self-sustaining domestic demand-led growth," he said, adding that the EU and Japan would actively cooperate in future on competition and consumer policy.-Reuters