EU Trade Commissioner Reached Political Agreement on Free Trade Deal With Japan

EU Commissioner for Trade held a meeting in Brussels with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida expected to be signed at the bilateral summit slated for Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — EU Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom on Wednesday said she had held a productive meeting in Brussels with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, with both sides reaching a political agreement on an EU-Japan trade deal, expected to be signed at the bilateral summit slated for Thursday.

"Good meeting w Japanese Foreign Minister Kishida. We ironed out the few remaining differences in the #EUJapan trade negotiations. We've reached political agreement at Ministerial level on an #EUJapan trade deal. We now recommend to leaders to confirm this at summit," Malmstrom posted on her official Twitter account.

At the summit, the European Union will be represented by European Council President Donald Tusk and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker, while the Asian nation will be represented by its Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

According to the European Commission, the issue of a free trade agreement between the two sides has been on the bilateral agenda since March 2013, while the Strategic Partnership Agreement had been negotiated in parallel with it.