(BRUSSELS) - The European Union and Japan on Wednesday signed a customs cooperation agreement to boost trade and help fight counterfeiting.

The agreement, initialled last June, "provides an ideal framework to discuss all customs related issues and problems" such as trade, intellectual property rights and counterfeiting, the EU said in a statement.

All these are "priority areas for the EU and for Japan," it added.

The customs agreement was signed in Brussels by officials from the EU's Slovenian presidency and the European Commission and Japan's EU ambassador Takekazu Kawamura.

It will come into force on February 1.

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