Good morning everyone and thank you for inviting me today.

Recently Japanese society has become somewhat inward looking, and this tendency is causing me concern. In the political arena that I operate in, this concentrated navel gazing is very prevalent, and it leads to a certain degree of frustration. In that sense, the opportunity to debate a topic that focuses on the external is most welcome. I would like to thank ACCJ for offering me this opportunity, and in particular Vivian for preparing everything.

Following on from Oda-san’s explanation of the background to the EPA, I would like to focus on three points. Specifically, I will discuss the stance of The Democratic Party of Japan regarding the FTA and the EPA. Secondly, I will offer my own point of view, and thirdly I would like to look at the big question, “Why are negotiations so slow?”

First, the stance of the DPJ. The DPJ holds that the FTA and EPA serve as “strategies for the strengthening of international competitiveness of Japanese industry”, and our position is to positively support this. Therefore, instead of currently having negotiation portals in each ministry, we think that there should be an integrated and unified negotiation team. To enhance this process the DPJ is striving for negotiations at the WTO to reach an agreement, and we will then abide by the principles and the agreement reached there.

Next I would like to mention my own point of view. I think we could process the EPA and FTA proactively. I believe that by proactively implementing the EPA and FTA, this will give impetus to the negotiations at the WTO, which have not been proceeding as well as could be hoped. As far as the process of implementing the EPA and FTA, I believe that the CEPEA (Comprehensive Economic Partnership in East Asia) should be established as soon as possible, as a first step towards developing the East Asia Economic Caucus (EAEC).

Of course, the economic relationship of the USA with Japan and other Asian countries is extremely important; as such the EAEC should not be a closed shop but open to participation from those outside the geographic region. 　
In this sense I think that an EPA with the USA, which has the deepest economic relationship with Asia, should be driven forward. In promoting an EPA with both East Asia and the USA, Japan can play a leadership role in the EAEC in the future.

However, in fact Japan’s EPA and FTA policies have not been proceeding well. Why is this? I think there are three core reasons.

First, the position of the EPA and FTA in the national strategy is somewhat ambiguous. Although “Forward!” is a term used all too frequently in discussions on this topic, little actual movement is evident. The fact that the national strategy is not clear is restricting progress.

The second issue, that I believe most people will be aware of, is the agricultural lobby. As an economic power Japanese agriculture is fairly weak, however it still has strong influence in politics. Thus in the EPA and FTA negotiations the agricultural issue is a major impediment, much like the bone in the old expression “a fish bone stuck in the throat”; little can pass until the bone is dislodged, and continuing to swallow is extremely uncomfortable.

The third reason is that promotion of the EPA and FTA is the responsibility of the government, and thus the process is bureaucratic, and politicians are failing to lead from the front.

Honestly speaking, in our regular debates the EPA issue is only ever raised by those opposing it (such as the agricultural lobby), it is almost never raised by those who are actually responsible for promoting it. Usually the people who say “Forward, Forward!” are the government or the bureaucrats. If we continue with a chorus of “Forward, Forward!” and yet fail to act, all we will end up with is a so-called “agreement in principle, disagreement in detail”. I think we need to develop the political will to implement the EPA and FTA

Those are my thoughts in brief. To move the EPA forward it is necessary to obtain the interest and support of the citizenship, and thereby defeat the opposition, who while in the minority have considerable political strength. To do so we need to explain, step by step, the concrete benefits arising from the EPA to the voters of Japan. I pledge to work for the establishment of the EPA as much as possible.

Thank you very much