European Union and Japanese leaders agreed Saturday to start the process for launching negotiation on a free trade agreement (FTA). "Leaders agreed to start the process for parallel negotiations for a deep and comprehensive free trade agreement/economic partnership agreement," a joint statement released after an EU-Japan summit in Brussels read. The prospective deal would cover "tariffs, non-tariff measures, services, investment, intellectual property rights, competition and public procurement," the document was quoted as saying by the German Press Agency "DPA".
