By Martin Banks - 13th September 2011
The EU has been urged to 'further strengthen' its relationship with Japan.
Business leaders from Europe and Japan specifically called for the negotiation of a "deep and comprehensive" free trade agreement (FTA) and economic partnership agreement (EPA).
Such an agreement, they say, would encompass issues of interest to both sides including tariffs, non-tariff measures, services, investment, intellectual property rights, competition and public procurement.
This was the main message to emerge from a meeting in Tokyo of the EU-Japan 'business round table', a forum of 50 European and Japanese business leaders.
The forum says that both sides have a "historic" chance to foster new business opportunities for both Europe and Japan.
Their call comes after leaders from both the EU and Japan agreed to start FTA talks when they met for the 20th EU-Japan summit in Brussels last May.
After its meeting on Monday, the BRT issued a statement, saying, "We have long called upon both sides to start negotiations on a balanced and mutually beneficial bilateral agreement as soon as the right conditions are met.
"This will promote an ambitious development of bilateral trade and investment."
The business leaders said they welcomed the summit agreement as a "significant step" in that direction.
The statement added, "The BRT calls for a balanced and mutually beneficial FTA/EPA to enable the development of truly fair and open markets and release the potential for a huge increase of bilateral business."
It went on, "With so much at stake, the industries of both sides have an important role to play in supporting the authorities in this work."
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