Japan–Australia Economic Partnership Agreement Japan–Australia Economic Partnership Agreement The Japan–Australia Economic Partnership Agreement was concluded between Australia and Japan in November 2014 and took effect January 15, 2015. Australia's negotiations for an agreement with Japan began under the Howard Government in 2007. In April 2014, Australia's Prime Minister Tony Abbott led a trade delegation to Japan, South Korea and China. The three economies accounted for more than half of all of Australia's two-way trade. On the Japanese leg, Abbott was received by Emperor Akihito and, secured the key elements of a free trade agreement with the government of Shinzo Abe. A number of concessions
Japan–Russia relations leaders decided to sign off on joint projects in five areas — aquaculture, greenhouse farming, tourism, wind power and waste reduction. At the 2018 Thirteenth East Asia Summit in Singapore, Shinzo Abe followed up on a proposal from Vladimir Putin to sign a peace treaty without preconditions by the end of the year. He said that the leaders would seek a peace treaty to the terms of the 1956 Soviet–Japanese Joint Declaration. The declaration gave Japan the Habomai islet group and Shikotan while the Soviet Union claimed the remaining islands, but the United States did not allow the 1956 treaty.