European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmstrom shakes hands with Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida | Franck Robichon/AFP via Getty Images EU, Japan close to agreement on trade deal Two days of high-level discussions in Tokyo have helped agreement hove into view.

Brussels and Tokyo are close to signing a political agreement on their trade deal this Thursday, European Commissioner for Trade Cecilia Malmström said today.

"We are almost there,” Malmström told reporters in Tokyo after two days of high-level discussions she and her agriculture counterpart Phil Hogan held with the Japanese government. “We made a lot of very important progress."

"I'm quite confident that leaders can agree at the summit" this Thursday in Brussels to sign a political agreement, which closes negotiations on over 90 percent of the trade deal, including the sensitive market access for cheese, beef and cars.

However, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida was more cautious.

"While there was meaningful progress in the negotiations, there are still important issues left for both sides to close," he said in a press statement. Kishida also told reporters that he plans to come to Brussels in the coming days to "continue my efforts to the last minute."

Malmström conceded the deal was not yet done. "There are still some minor things that we need to solve during the coming days, and we need to consult, the Japanese internally and [we] with our leaders and our member states," she said.

An extraordinary briefing for EU governments has been scheduled for Wednesday, the Council of the EU said Friday.

While Malmström and Hogan fly back home today, negotiations will continue in the coming days "to iron out the remaining details," Malmström said.