Sunday, Oct. 30, 2011

Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda plans to announce that Japan will join the Trans-Pacific Partnership free-trade talks during a meeting with his Singaporean counterpart at November's Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit, sources said Saturday.

By choosing the APEC summit as the stage for the declaration, Noda will effectively turn Japan's pledge to participate in the TPP negotiations into an international commitment.

And by deciding to declare Japan's policy to Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, whose country has from the outset been a key player in the negotiations over the multilateral free-trade accord, Noda is apparently signaling Japan's determination to play a leading role in the talks.

Noda and Lee will hold a bilateral meeting that is tentatively scheduled for Nov. 12, the first day of the summit in Honolulu, the sources said.

Noda plans to convey the same message when he meets with other world leaders, including U.S. President Barack Obama, they said.

In the runup to the APEC summit, Noda is expected to convene a meeting of relevant Cabinet ministers on or around Nov. 8 to formally set Japan's course for joining the TPP talks.

Noda will try to win over members of his ruling Democratic Party of Japan who oppose joining the free-trade negotiations by stressing that Japan won't have a say in the new framework unless it joins the talks as soon as possible, and that enhancing ties with Asia is imperative to sustain the nation's economic growth.

Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba proposed the bilateral summit when he met with Lee on Oct. 12 in Singapore, saying Noda wished to convey to him in person Japan's final decision on joining the TPP talks.

At the time, Lee urged Japan to join the negotiations on the free-trade pact at an early time so that it can play a major role in crafting the new framework.

In a policy speech delivered at the Diet on Friday, Noda stopped short of indicating whether Japan will participate in the TPP negotiations, saying only that his administration "will reach a conclusion at the earliest stage possible."

The TPP requires members to eliminate all tariffs in principle. Nine countries, including the United States, Australia and New Zealand, are currently trying to hammer out a deal over the regional free-trade initiative.

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