Tokyo: Trade ministers from the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum agreed yesterday to promote free trade agreements in the Asia-Pacific region, just a day after Japan’s entry into negotiations for a free trade pact involving many of the Apec economies was approved.
“We reaffirmed the importance of Apec’s meaningful contribution...guiding the process of FTA/RTA (regional trade agreement) development in the Asia-Pacific region,” the ministers said in a joint statement released at the end of their two-day meeting in Indonesia’s Surabaya, Kyodo news agency reported.
“We will continue to promote broader integration which includes trade and investment liberalization and facilitation in the Apec region,” it said.
The agreement came after Japan finally gained backing from all 11 members on Saturday to join the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade liberalisation talks that, with Japan included, would cover about a third of world trade.
QNA
