TOKYO, Dec. 20 ― Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has stressed that his administration is pushing countries to ease up on restrictions and open their market access for Japanese agricultural products.
Pointing out that China and Hong Kong have recently relaxed some import restrictions on Japanese food, Abe said: “We are cracking the door open a little wider.”
The prime minister spoke at the Dec. 19 general assembly of the national council for export promotion of agricultural products, a key public-private joint initiative to boost Japanese agricultural exports.
Japan has set a target of 1 trillion yen in agricultural exports in 2019. Last year, the country’s agriculture exports totaled a record 807.1 billion yen.
The agriculture ministry has launched the Global Farmers Project (GFP), which offers export assessment for farmers and matchmaking services to let farmers match with traders for exports.