Berlin, May 1 (IANS): German Chancellor Angela Merkel and visiting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe have pledged to push ahead with negotiations on a European Union (EU)-Japan trade agreement.
The two leaders also pledged to strengthen bilateral cooperation in fields such as security and energy.
Both leaders showed willingness to strengthen bilateral economic cooperation and push ahead with negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FAT) between Japan and the EU, Xinhua quoted Merkel as saying after their meet, while expressing hope that the deal can be signed in 2015.
Abe paid a visit to Germany Wednesday, kicking off his 10-day Europe tour.
The chancellor told reporters, during their joint press confernce, a trade agreement with Japan would greatly improve trade relations and also be of great importance for Germany as an export nation.
Japan is the EU's seventh largest trading partner globally, and the EU is Japan's third largest trading partner. Brussels and Tokyo held the first round of FAT talks in April 2013.
According to an EU press release, an agreement between the two economic giants is expected to boost Europe's economy by 0.6 percent to 0.8 percent of its GDP and will result in creation of 400,000 jobs.
It is expected that the EU exports to Japan could increase by 32.7 percent, while Japanese exports to the EU would increase by 23.5 percent.