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Japan and Britain agree to aim for 'ambitious' trade deal

10/02/2020    18

The top diplomats of Japan and Britain agreed Saturday to work quickly toward a bilateral trade deal that will be “at least as ambitious” as Japan’s agreement with the European Union.

In their first meeting since the United Kingdom formally withdrew from the European Union on Jan. 31, Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and his British counterpart, Dominic Raab, also said they were planning security talks.

“Preliminary discussions have begun in building a new bilateral economic partnership, and I hope we will be able to start and conclude negotiations as early as possible,” Motegi said at a joint news conference after the meeting in Tokyo.

Raab said the two discussed a deal that would be “at least as high standard, if not higher, and at least as ambitious” as the Japan-EU agreement that entered into force in February 2019.

This would “send a very powerful signal of our shared commitment to free and rules-based trade,” he added.

Motegi also expressed support for Britain’s interest in joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, an 11-member free trade pact also involving Australia, Canada and Mexico.

Source: Japan Times