<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt; font-size: 11pt; font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;" class=""><a href="redir.aspx?REF=uOcVbJ7EKzRA-w2KME3TRbB4z8SNUPj19zaygipFjswgd9-r9V7TCAFodHRwOi8vdGhlLWphcGFuLW5ld3MuY29tL25ld3MvYXJ0aWNsZS8wMDAyODU4NTI5" target="_blank" style="color: purple;" class="">http://the-japan-news.com/news/article/0002858529</a></div><h1 style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 24pt; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Abe aims for TPP approval</h1><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">11:30 pm, April 07, 2016</p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class=""><span class="credit">Jiji Press</span> TOKYO (Jiji Press) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday expressed his determination to obtain Diet approval for the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal during the ongoing session through June 1.</p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">The Special Committee on TPP Agreement at the House of Representatives began substantive deliberations on a bill to gain the Diet approval and related legislation, including measures to reduce the impact of the multilateral free trade deal on domestic industry.</p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">“We hope our country will take the initiative to increase momentum toward the effectuation of the deal at an early time,” Abe said in a question-and-answer session at the committee.</p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Regarding China’s possible participation in the TPP framework, for which a broad accord was reached last October among Japan, the United States and 10 other countries, Abe said, “China is welcome to join if it meets the criteria, and Japan will not stint on cooperation for that.”</p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">“Japan will make efforts to increase newcomers by providing information about the deal and through other measures,” Abe also said, naming other nonmembers such as South Korea and Taiwan.</p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">Asked about the TPP’s impacts on Japan’s agricultural sector, Abe said the government will take thorough measures to promote the sector’s shift to an aggressive strategy in order to ensure that key agricultural items will continue to be produced in the country following the effectuation of the deal.</p><p style="margin-right: 0in; margin-left: 0in; font-size: 16px; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif;" class="">“Effective measures will be taken to open a new era of agricultural administration,” the prime minister said.<a href="UrlBlockedError.aspx" target="_blank" style="color: purple;" class="">Speech</a></p></body></html>