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.