Japan, Colombia start third round of free trade talks

Japan and Colombia on Monday kicked off here their third round of free trade talks that will cover issues such as tariff cut, rules of origin and public procurement, according to local media. Jun Yokota, Japan's ambassador in charge of economic diplomacy, said at the beginning of the five-day negotiations that Japan hopes to continue talks to reach a high-level comprehensive accord with the southern American country, said Japan's Kyodo News. Japan aims to eliminate 35 percent tariffs imposed by Bogota on Japanese automobile exported to the latter, said the report. Japan mainly exports industrial goods such as automobiles and steel products to Colombia, which exports agricultural items like coffee and flower to Japan. The two countries agreed to launch free trade talks in September 2012 and held the first round of talks in Tokyo last December and the second in Colombia's Cali in May.