Southeast Asian economic ministers and counterparts from northern Asia powerhouses Japan, China, and South Korea agreed on Saturday on steps toward free trade agreements to boost business and meet global competition.
Japan and ministers from the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) agreed to open negotiations on a free trade pact in April 2005, with the aim of implementing its terms by 2012 with Asean's six more developed countries - Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, Indonesia and Brunei.
The target for Japan and the four other Asean members (Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos) is 2015.
"We'll start these talks in April next year and have committed to make efforts to conclude an agreement within two years," Japanese Trade Minister Shoichi Nakagawa told reporters.
The Asean side was "more enthusiastic than expected" about a partnership with Japan, he said.
Asked at a news conference later if the touchy subject of agriculture would be part of the talks, Nakagawa said "there will be no a priori exclusions, so everything will be on the table."
Farmers are an important constituency for Japan's ruling party and some analysts doubt they can compete in open markets.
A Japan-Asean free trade zone would combine the world's second-biggest economy with countries that together boast an annual trade volume of well over $700 billion, roughly equal to Japan's, and a population more than four times as large.
The ministers met separately with Chinese officials.
Asean and China have already been working on a deal that could result in the world's biggest free trade zone of nearly two billion people with a combined gross domestic product of $2 trillion by 2010.
That is the target date for full implementation of the agreement with Asean's six more developed countries. The other four would come in five years later.
A joint statement said draft agreements on trade in goods and services as well as on a dispute settlement agreement could be signed by China's and Asean's leaders at the latter's annual summit, scheduled for November in Laos, where all the proposals from this weekend's meetings will also need to be approved.
Chinese Trade Minister Bo Xilai told the news conference "two-way trade volume between Asean nations and China accounts for 11 percent of China's overall external trade, but I believe this proportion will be greatly increased in the upcoming several years and probably doubled."
He also praised a "very important decision" by the Asean ministers to recognise China as a full market economy. Status as a non-market economy can provide other countries with a basis for barriers under some international trade agreements.
South Korean and Asean ministers want to begin their free trade agreement negotiations in January of 2005, aiming for completion of the talks in 2007 and implementation of the agreement with Asean's six more developed countries in 2009 and its other four members in 2014, officials said.
Asean-Korea two-way trade was worth $32 billion in 2003.
On Friday, the Asean ministers had agreed on steps to further liberalise trade and commerce among themselves, but many also think it is essential for their 500-million-strong region to break down economic barriers with other areas.
"Asean must remain open to the global economy. Asean must continue to improve its trade and economic ties with its main partners," Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri said in a speech at the opening ceremony.
Endorsing free trade agreements with important world economies, she said the main objective is to widen Asean's market and gain access to cheaper sources of capital goods and products.
Aside from China and Japan, Asean is working on a free trade agreement with India, and on Sunday ministers are likely to recommend the formal launch of free trade talks with South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
However, enthusiasm about moving fast to establish FTAs varies. Not all Asean members feel ready to compete on level playing fields in manufacturing or agriculture.
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