【News】 Ruling coalition officially decides to postpone TPP ratification until post-election Diet session (April 26, 2016)

Representatives of the ruling parties, Sadakazu Tanigaki, Secretary-General of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and his Komeito counterpart Yoshihisa Inoue, met in Tokyo on April 25 and officially decided to put off attempting to ratify the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) free trade pact and enact relevant bills at the current Diet session.

They agreed that the TPP pact ratification and related bills approval should be advanced for further deliberations at the Lower House session, aiming at final approval and enactment at an extraordinary Diet session to be convened after the Upper House election this summer.

LDP’s Secretary-General Sadakazu Tanigaki said at the press conference on the same day “The TPP ratification is a very important issue. It would be better for us to avoid a hasty decision to force the ratification through the current Diet session.”

He suggested, however, his party wishes to continue deliberations on the TPP approval at the Diet by saying “We cannot idle our time away without doing anything in the coming months. We have to do our best to persuade the lawmakers of opposite parties to understand the importance of the TPP accord through adequate discussions with them.

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