The 15th Round of Negotiations for the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) Held in Australia

1. The 15th round of negotiations for the Japan-Australia EPA was held in Canberra, Australia, from Monday, April 23 to Friday, April 27.
2. The participants in the meeting were: on the Japanese side, Mr. Shinichi Nishimiya, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and other officials from relevant Japanese ministries; and on the Australian side, Mr. Bruce Gosper, Deputy Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and other officials from relevant departments of Australia.
3. In the meeting, they effectively discussed the following various issues, including trade in goods and services, investment, rules of origin, and food supply:
   • 1) In respect of goods market access, mutual concerns regarding agricultural, forestry and fisheries products and industrial products were discussed in light of the negotiations so far;
   • 2) For trade in services and investment, negotiations continued on requests from both countries and a draft agreement was discussed;
   • 3) In respect to rules of origin, negotiations continued on the issues which were not solved yet, including a draft agreement; and
   • 4) In respect of food supply, possible measures for stable food supply were examined and a draft agreement was discussed.
4. The next round of negotiations, the 16th round, will be held in Tokyo around June 2012. The detailed schedule will be arranged through diplomatic channels.

April 27, 2012

Economic Partnership Division, Trade Policy Bureau