The delegation of the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA-Zenchu), which is visiting Canada headed by JA-Zenchu Vice President Toshiaki Tobita, met Canadian government officials in charge of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade negotiations on Tuesday, September 17.
In a meeting with the delegation, Tina Namiesniowski, Assistant Deputy Minister of the Canadian government’s Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food, said the Canadian negotiators of the TPP pact will protect the nation’s supply management systems, in which the government controls domestic production and restricts imports of key agricultural products, according to JA-Zenchu officials.
All the political parties in Canada support the systems, and Canadian negotiators of the TPP talks must not make compromises which affect the systems, because that would be fatal for the farming industry, Namiesniowski said.
Referring to bilateral trade negotiations with Japan, Namiesniowski explained it is essential for Canada to ensure that its conditions for exporting to Japan will not be disadvantageous compared with those of other countries. According to Namiesniowski, Canada places stronger emphasis on negotiations for an economic partnership agreement between Canada and Japan, because it is easier to take individual agricultural products into consideration in bilateral talks than in the TPP negotiations.
The JA-Zenchu delegation, headed by Vice President Toshiaki Tobita, exchanges opinions with officials of the Canadian government’s Department of Agriculture and Agri-Food on Tuesday, September 17, in Ottawa.
In Canada’s Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, the delegation held a meeting with Kirsten Hillman, Canada’s chief negotiator at the TPP talks, to hear her opinions on disclosing information on the TPP negotiations. Hillman said the Canadian government is working on disclosing information through Hillman speaking at the Canadian Parliament’s standing committee on international trade and giving briefings to stakeholders of different industries after the TPP negotiations.
On the same day, the delegation also met with officials of The Grain Growers of Canada who support the TPP pact, and explained the JA-Zenchu’s stance, including its support for the resolutions adopted by the committees of the Japanese Diet which urge the government to exempt key agricultural products, including wheat, from tariff elimination in the TPP negotiations.
After the meetings, Tobita told reporters that they will continue making efforts to let Canadian officials deepen understanding on the JA-Zenchu’s positions, adding that they will seek strategic cooperation with Canada.
(Sept. 19, 2013)