Japan, EU to hold two-days of talks on trade deal: Japan FM

Japan's foreign minister said he will hold two days of talks with the EU trade commissioner in Tokyo tomorrow, as the two sides look to ink a long-awaited agreement.

The comments from Fumio Kishida Thursday come after four years of talks aimed at hammering out a free-trade agreement, with negotiators working toward signing a deal at a G20 meeting in Hamburg next week.

Clinching a deal would be a victory for free-trade advocates after US president Donald Trump pulled the United States out of the Trans-Pacific Partnership this year, dealing a possibly fatal blow to the mooted 12-nation deal.

EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmstrom and agriculture commissioner Phil Hogan will visit the Japanese capital from Friday, Kishida said.

"I'd like to hold final discussions with Malmstrom for a broad agreement" on the Japan-EU trade deal, he told reporters.

"I think they're going to be very tough and difficult negotiations," Kishida added.

"It's not yet decided when we'll reach a conclusion or how long we'll be negotiating.

"We'd like to make the maximum use out of the time we've got."

A European source told

(This article has not been edited by DNA's editorial team and is auto-generated from an agency feed.)