Japan, ASEAN officials hold talks in Tokyo

Japan, ASEAN officials hold talks in Tokyo

Kenji Hall, Associated Press, Tokyo

Japanese and Southeast Asian officials opened two days of
meetings on Monday to finalize the agenda for a December summit
expected to call for freer trade and closer security cooperation.

The summit, which begins Dec. 11, is expected to give Prime
Minister Junichiro Koizumi a chance to nudge Japan closer to a
free trade pact with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN), a major regional trading partner.

But Japan's resistance to opening its heavily protected farm
sector remains a huge obstacle to liberalizing trade with other
countries, with Tokyo having signed only a free-trade agreement
with Singapore so far.

During this week's meetings, Japanese officials were to
propose ways to liberalize bilateral trade in goods from next
year with Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines, Foreign
Ministry official Masami Tamura said.

Negotiations were also expected to focus on combating
terrorism, establishing intellectual property rights protection
and promoting political and cultural exchanges, he said, without
elaborating.

The talks in Tokyo come on the heels of last month's ASEAN
summit in Bali, Indonesia. At the Oct. 8-9 annual summit, leaders
from Japan and ASEAN nations signed a pledge to reduce tariffs
and other trade barriers as a first step toward sealing a free-
trade pact over the next decade.

ASEAN, which consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam, is an attractive market for Japan. More than 500 million
people, or about 17 percent of the world's population, make up
those 10 nations.

Japan is already the bloc's second-biggest trading partner and
investor, after the United States. In 2001, two-way trade
amounted to US$99.2 billion, or 14.4 percent of ASEAN's total.

The region has become a major manufacturing base for Japanese
companies, particularly high-tech firms and automakers.

But trade has flagged in recent years. Tokyo is hoping to
deepen its ties with ASEAN as the bloc works toward forging a
European-style economic community over the next two decades.

The two sides agreed last month to begin discussions next
year, starting with opening their borders to each other's goods.
They will try to widen the scope to services in 2005 - tackling
issues such as easing customs and visa restrictions - and begin
implementing the plan by 2012.

Officials declined to comment on the specifics of Monday's
discussions. A briefing was planned for journalists after the
meetings end Tuesday, said another Foreign Ministry spokesman,
Hideki Adachi.