Japan, EU make breakthrough on two-way trade agreement

Japan, EU make breakthrough on two-way trade agreement

BONN (Reuters): Japan and the European Union leaders made a
breakthrough in years of talks on a two-way trade agreement on
Sunday and pledged to work together to win support for a new
round of global trade talks, officials said.

At an EU-Japan summit in Bonn, German Chancellor Gerhard
Schroeder and Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi also pledged
to continue providing aid for the restructuring of crisis-hit
Asian economies and gave backing to policies that would foster
stable financial conditions on world markets, according to a
joint statement.

"We confirmed the importance of our strengthening our
cooperation as global powers," Obuchi told a news conference,
noting that the EU and Japan together represent some 40 percent
of global economic output.

Schroeder, whose country currently holds the EU presidency,
represented the 15-nation bloc at the hour-long talks, the eighth
in a series of regular meetings aimed at strengthening EU-
Japanese ties.

The joint statement said both sides welcomed the successful
introduction of the euro single currency and measures being taken
by Japan to "enhance the internationalization of the yen."

Economic and monetary union in Europe opened new opportunities
for further cooperation between the EU and Japan in economic and
financial policy, it said.

European Trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan told Reuters
after the meeting that the two sides had achieved a breakthrough
in four years of negotiations on a Mutual Recognition Agreement.

The accord is expected to boost trade by enabling Japan and
the EU to recognize each other's testing and certification
standards for electrical appliances, telecommunications
equipment, chemicals and pharmaceuticals.

"We've broken the back of that negotiation and achieved
agreement on the major outstanding points. There is still some
technical work to do," Brittan said.

The EU and Japan said in a joint statement they would step up
their push for a comprehensive new round of global trade
liberalization talks at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

They would work together to encourage other countries to
commit to the new round, which could be launched at a WTO
ministerial meeting in Seattle late this year.

The EU, Japan and the United States support a new round, but
many developing countries do not.

In the statement, Japan and the EU stressed the need to
"jointly promote peace and stability on the Korean peninsula
through a policy of engagement towards North Korea ..."