ISE-SHIMA (Japan) (Sputnik) — Japan and its G7 European partners agreed on Thursday on the necessity to swiftly proceed with the conclusion of a free trade deal, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said at the G7 summit.
According to Abe, the leaders of Japan, France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom issued a joint statement on the free trade partnership between Brussels and Tokyo, confirming the parties' commitment to the acceleration of achieving a political agreement on the deal by the end of the year.
The prime minister stressed that the agreement would be beneficial not just for its parties but for the global economy as a whole.
The first round of talks between Japan and the European Union on the free trade deal took place in Brussels in April 2013.
