Japan, 4 E. European nations agree on promoting Japan-EU FTA talks

BUDAPEST, June 6 Kyodo -
Japanese Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto and his counterparts in Hungary and three other Eastern European countries agreed Monday to help facilitate negotiations for a free trade agreement between Japan and the European Union.
The five ministers welcomed the results of the 20th Japan-EU summit held in Brussels on May 28, ''in particular the start of the process'' for negotiations for an FTA, they said in a joint press statement issued following their meeting held in Budapest on the occasion of the 10th Asia-Europe Meeting of foreign ministers.
The joint statement also calls for reinforcing cooperation between Japan and the four East European countries, which are members of the European Union, in the political and economic fields as well as in other areas such as renewable energy and energy saving technologies.
The four countries are the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland, in addition to Hungary which now assumes the rotating presidency of the European Union.
Before the meeting, Matsumoto and Hungarian Foreign Minister Janos Martonyi agreed that Japan and Hungary should strengthen their bilateral ties.