Japan, EU to hold strategic partnership talks

Japan and the European Union (EU) will hold the fourth round of negotiations on a bilateral strategic partnership pact in Brussels on Jan. 22-24, the Foreign Ministry announced here Tuesday. The upcoming negotiations on the Japan-EU Strategic Partnership Agreement in the Belgium capital will be attended by Deputy Director General of the ministry's European Affairs Bureau Koichi Hasegawa as Japan's chief negotiator, it said. The EU side will be headed by Viorel Isticioaia Budura, Managing Director for Asia and the Pacific, the European External Action Service. At the third round of talks in October in Tokyo, the two sides advanced discussions on the overall contents of the agreement, and deepened their understanding on each others positions, according to the ministry.