Statement by Yasuchika Hasegawa, Chairman of Keizai Doyukai
Preparatory Negotiations Agreement with the United States toward
Japan’s Participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement

April 12, 2013

Yasuchika Hasegawa
Chairman, Keizai Doyukai

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1. The preparatory negotiations between Japan and the United States for Japan’s participation in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) reached an agreement today. I welcome this achievement as a significant step toward Japan’s participation as a full member of the TPP negotiations.
2. Once Japan officially takes part in the official negotiations, we expect our government to strive to maximize the benefits from this high-quality and comprehensive economic partnership agreement. To that end, we hope the Japanese government decisively opens Japan to the world and intensively invests resources in high added-value areas of the economy. We also hope that by becoming a member of the TPP, Japan can work to resolve the most pressing of national issue–Japan’s accumulated government debt. We would like the government to be resolute during negotiations to lead the formulation of fair and transparent international rules in trade and investment.