Japan hopes to sign FTA with Mexico soon, eyes negotiations with SKorea

Japan hopes to sign FTA with Mexico soon, eyes negotiations with SKorea

Agence France-Presse Tokyo

Japan's trade minister said on Friday he believed a free trade agreement (FTA) with Mexico could be concluded when President Vicente Fox visits later this month.

Closing an FTA with Mexico "is very significant. I believe the agreement can be reached when President Fox visits Japan on October 15," Trade Minister Shoichi Nakagawa told a press briefing.

Japan and Mexico started free trade talks last November after Koizumi met Fox at an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in October in the Mexican resort city of Los Cabos.

The sensitive issue of agricultural trade delayed signing of the deal, however.

If concluded, the agreement would be Japan's second free trade pact after the signing of an accord with Singapore in January last year, removing import and export tariffs on 98 percent of goods traded between the two nations.

Fox will pay a state visit to Tokyo and the second city of Osaka from Oct. 15 to 18.

Japan and Mexico are expected to launch a final round of working-level negotiations from on Monday in an effort to clear the hurdles before Fox's visit, Kyodo News agency said, without citing sources.

Japanese foreign ministry officials declined to immediately comment on the issue.

Nakagawa also told reporters he wanted to start FTA talks with South Korea soon.

"By forming an FTA, I hope our ties as neighboring nations will become stronger," he told reporters.

"I want to start government-level negotiations as soon as possible."

His comment followed a report issued on Thursday by a panel of Japanese and South Korean officials, business people and scholars, recommending that the two nations start FTA talks.

The panel said such a deal would benefit both nations and contribute to stability and prosperity of East Asia.