Tag Archives: News

  In last year’s general elections and in the Upper House election this summer, the Liberal Democratic Party has made a campaign pledge to retain tariffs on rice, wheat and barley, beef and pork, dairy products and sugar crops, and is assuming the reins of government together with our coalition ally New Komeito. We will stand firm to meet the pledge in the negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade pact. We attach great importance to the resolutions adopted by the agricultural committees of both the lower and upper houses of the Diet. We declare that we will definitely protect the five key agricultural products and the national health insurance system. … Continue reading →

  A group of lawmakers and citizens opposing the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks held a conference on Tuesday, October 1, to express concerns over the confidentiality of the ongoing negotiations. Attendants of the conference, including lawmakers from Malaysia, feared that the TPP negotiations led by the United States would proceed with priority on expanding economic benefits, resulting in wider gaps between the rich and the poor. They shared the view that it is necessary to ask the TPP member governments to disclose information on the negotiations to avoid the pact from harming each country’s national interests. Nurul Izzah Anwar, a member of the Malaysian Parliament from the People’s Justice Party, … Continue reading →

  Takanori Okabe – Bali, Indonesia 12 member countries of the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks will gear up negotiations to reach basic accord at the summit meeting scheduled in Bali on Tuesday, October 8, and pave the way for concluding the talks by the yearend. Chief negotiators are expected to hold meetings starting Tuesday, October 1, and ministers’ meeting is opted to start on Thursday, October 3, to discuss sensitive subjects that need political decisions. But Japanese government sources say the TPP members will only be able to reach agreement on less controversial fields. As for sensitive fields, such as market access including reduction and elimination of tariffs, the negotiators … Continue reading →

  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 … Continue reading →