Japan has offered up to $100 million to fund efforts to set up a comprehensive economic partnership with East Asia, Malaysia's state news agency Bernama reported, in what is seen as a first step towards a free trade agreement.
Japanese trade minister Toshihiro Nikai would announce details of the $80 million-$100 million 10-year fund at the Asean Economic Ministers meeting in the Malaysian capital next week, the report said citing an unnamed Japanese official.
It did not say what the money would be used for.
An East Asian free-trade bloc is expected to cover about half the world's population and a fifth of global trade. The members of the East Asia forum are the 10 Southeast Asian states that convened it, plus China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand. Asean comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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