The European Union (EU) and Japan recently agreed to continue their close cooperation for an early launch of the new round of World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations.

During the meeting between Japanese ministers and European Commission officials, both sides emphasized the importance and the need to launch the new round of WTO talks as soon as possible.

The EU executive's team for the meeting was chaired by Commissioner Chris Patten and attended by the other five commissioners.

Patten said the EU welcomes the close cooperation with Japan in the WTO which is a key element underpinning bilateral relations. "Both the EU and Japan agree on the importance of the rule-based multilateral trading system and on the need to closely cooperate towards an early launch of negotiations on a new round to enable the WTO system to operate efficiently in the 21st century," he said.

In their joint statement, both sides reaffirmed that the agenda for the new round should be sufficiently comprehensive to include not only the built in agenda (agriculture and services) and market access but also the improvement and reinforcement of existing rules and disciplines such as anti-dumping, as well as the establishment of additional rules for investment, competition and trade facilitation.

They also agree to continue cooperation "so that the new round will pay due regard to non-trade concerns as well as factors such as the sustainable use of exhaustible natural resources and environmental aspects".

"Both sides continue to support the establishment of a dialogueon trade, globalization and labor issues with a view to promote a better understanding of the issues between all interested parties," the EU-Japan Joint Statement on WTO said.