China, Japan, South Korea Agree to Trade Talks

Setting aside their political differences, China, Japan and South Korea have decided to work out a trilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to further boost trade that stood at over USD 650 billion in 2011.

Presiding over a summit meeting of the three countries here today, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said all three nations have agreed to commence talks for FTA within this year.

Calling the agreement as "an important strategic decision", Wen told a press briefing atttended by Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak that the three countries should make concerted efforts for early establishment of FTA.



An FTA would further boost the trade ties as the three have over USD 650 billion trade in 2011, with China-Japan bilateral trading topping USD 350 and the rest between China and South Korea.

The three countries also clinched a deal to promote, facilitate and protect investment.

Wen said FTA will serve as the first important legal document on trilateral cooperation in economic field, state- run news agency Xinhua reported.

He said the three nations promised to seriously implement the deal to "create stable, fair and transparent environment for expanding mutual investment among the three countries, and further deepen economic integration.