Category Archives: Trade Talks

  Hayato Niki – Quebec, Canada The International Co-operative Alliance issued a statement on Thursday, Oct. 9, criticizing the Japanese government’s move to dismantle agricultural co-ops as “counterproductive to the national economy” and violating the principles of co-operatives. The intended legislation “would diminish the services offered to the farmers and the rural areas,” it said. “In particular, the intention to transform some of the cooperative structures into stock companies through demutualization is an unsound process.” The statement was announced after the ICA board discussed Japan’s intended restructuring of agricultural co-ops on Monday, Oct. 6, in Quebec. According to the statement, the board “unanimously approved” the report by the ICA’s study … Continue reading →

  Hayato Niki – Montreal, Canada Akira Banzai, president of the Central Union of Agricultural Co-operatives (JA-Zenchu), and JA-Zenchu Vice President Toru Nakaya agreed with officials representing some 6,000 Canadian milk producers on the importance of being self-sufficient in key agricultural items including dairy products. In a meeting held in Montreal on Tuesday, Oct. 7, JA-Zenchu officials and Bruno Letendre, Chairman of Les Producteurs de lait du Québec (PLQ) and General Manager Alain Bourbeau shared their sense of crisis over the ministerial meeting of the Trans-Pacific Partnership member countries scheduled later this month, as they call for protection of domestic farming. “Lawmakers have pledged to protect key agricultural products in … Continue reading →

  Ongoing negotiations between the United States and the European Union on food safety rules under the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership should be monitored closely, as the outcome of the talks could become the global standard in the future, the Central Union of Agricultural Co-operatives (JA-Zenchu) said in its newsletter published this month. In the September issue of the International Agriculture and Food Letter, JA-Zenchu reports on the TTIP negotiations, in which the U.S. and the EU are at odds over such issues as labeling of genetically modified (GM) foods, distribution of beef farmed with the use of growth hormones and geographical indications (GI). As the Doha round of … Continue reading →