Farm minister Tetsuro Nomura on Friday asked his European Union counterpart to lift restrictions placed on some of Japan's agricultural exports following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear plant disaster.
In a meeting in Miyazaki, southwestern Japan, Nomura asked EU Commissioner for Agriculture Janusz Wojciechowski to swiftly remove restrictions on products such as seafood and wild mushrooms from northeastern Fukushima Prefecture.
The restrictions were implemented after a massive earthquake and tsunami triggered multiple-reactor meltdowns at the Fukushima Daiichi power station.
In a separate meeting, Nomura agreed with U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack on creating a new forum for regularly exchanging information to promote sustainable farming.
In the Japan-U.S. Dialogue on Sustainable Agriculture, the two countries agreed to hold regular in-person dialogue sessions, preferably in Tokyo and Washington, to share information and discuss relevant policies, according to a joint statement.
"I have hopes that Japan-U.S. cooperation on sustainable agriculture will become even stronger," Nomura, the minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, said at the meeting, part of which was open to the media.
"Japan has provided leadership in focusing on the important role of innovation in responding to a changing climate and the demand for more production," Vilsack said.
Nomura met with his U.S. and EU peers ahead of a two-day meeting of the Group of Seven farm ministers from Saturday, where they are expected to focus on ways to ensure global food security undermined by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.
