Ukraine expects to start talks on free trade with Japan soon – ambassador

Ukraine looks forward to starting negotiations with Japan on a free trade agreement and updating the convention on the avoidance of double taxation.

Ukrainian Ambassador to Japan Sergiy Korsunsky said this at the forum "Asia Strategy in Action. The Role of Ukraine-Japan Cooperation," an Ukrinform correspondent reports.

“For us, the more important aspect should be the economy, which creates the basis for a very serious interest of the political leaders of Japan in the development of a security component with Ukraine. In the context of the economy, I have been discussing this issue for four months with all the representatives of the Japanese government and parliament with whom I met. There have already been several dozen such meetings, which, in particular, concerned the beginning of negotiations on a free trade agreement and updating the convention on the avoidance of double taxation," he said.

The ambassador recalled that the convention on double taxation, concluded in Soviet times in 1986, is now in force, and noted that there is already a draft of a new convention, which has been submitted to the Japanese side.

The diplomat expects that consultations on this matter will be completed soon.

In addition, Korsunsky noted that Ukraine should also negotiate with Japan on visa free travel and strengthening security cooperation. "I believe that we should talk about a visa-free regime and the intensification of interaction in the field of security, cyber security, as well as military and technical cooperation," he said.

At the same time, the ambassador recalled that according to official statistics, the volume of investments in Japan is USD 170 million. The diplomat stressed that Japan works in Ukraine through the representative offices of six powerful transnational corporations; therefore, given the specifics of these multinational companies, the real volume of investments is greater.

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