China, Japan and South Korea agreed to start talks on a free-trade agreement this year, according to a statement by China’s Ministry of Commerce today
China, Japan and South Korea agreed to start talks on a free-trade agreement this year, according to a statement by China’s Ministry of Commerce today.
The nations will recommend starting such negotiations during the Trilateral Summit meeting tomorrow, the trade ministers of all three nations said in the statement. The countries will sign the Trilateral Investment Agreement tomorrow, Yukio Edano, Japan’s Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry said today.
A free-trade accord among three of Asia’s four biggest economies would bring together a market of more than 1.5 billion people. Closer economic and trade ties may also help defuse political mistrust in the region, a legacy of Japan’s invasion of China and the Korean peninsula in the early 20th century.
The pact would not only expand trilateral and bilateral trade and investment, but also provide “a comprehensive and institutional framework in which a wide range of trilateral cooperation would evolve,” according to the statement.
“Closer cooperation between the three nations will not only be conducive to the development of each country itself, it will also boost the East Asian integration process and add drivers to world economic growth,” the report said.
