Following the announcement made earlier this month by the European Union and Japan regarding the political agreement on the main elements of an Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) between the two partners, the Japan Textile Federation (JTF) and European Apparel and Textile Confederation (Euratex) welcomed wholeheartedly the results, and urged their respective authorities to implement the agreement as soon as possible for the benefit of their companies.
On July 10th, the representatives of EU and Japanese textile and apparel industries met in Brussels to exchange views on the status of their industries, relationships and the political conclusion of an EPA. During the meeting, both JTF and Euratex reiterated their support to the agreement, which should increase opportunities for their companies to secure market openings with their innovations.
Euratex President Klaus Huneke says, “Since the start of the discussions, EU and Japanese textile and apparel industries have been working together on tariffs and rules to ensure that the negotiators deliver the right framework for our products. Although we still need to see the details of the text of the agreement, we are confident that such an ambitious and industry-driven deal will allow our companies to reap rapidly the benefits of this agreement.”
Both industries earlier issued two joint statements in support of the negotiations (November 2013 and November 2016), providing suggestions of possible areas of agreement for their products both for tariffs and rules of origin. Both industries are greeting their authorities for having taken duly into account their proposals made during the negotiations to reach an agreement that should foster bilateral relations in the textile and apparel sector.
JTF President Masanao Kambara concluded, “The immediate abolishment of customs duties with full reciprocity and no exceptions as well as the rules of origin prone to promote industrial relations should be concluded and put into effect as soon as possible in order to allow this future-oriented agreement to deliver the expected benefits to our companies”.