U.S. Vice President Joe Biden will travel to Japan, China and South Korea in the first week of December, to discuss the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade agreement with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and other top officials, the White House said Monday.

Biden, who will visit Japan between Dec. 2 and 4, is scheduled to meet with Abe and compare notes with officials on bilateral ties and Asia-Pacific affairs, according to Tokyo.

Biden's visit to Japan comes ahead of a ministerial meeting in Singapore among the United States, Japan and 10 other countries involving negotiations for concluding the U.S.-led TPP pact by the end of this year.