Senior Japanese and U.S. officials agreed Sunday to cooperate to choke off the cash supply of terrorists and to launch a new round of trade liberalization talks under the auspices of the World Trade Organization, a Japanese official said.
"While noting an action plan issued by the G7 (Group of Seven) countries, the two countries agreed to continue cooperation in fighting terrorism from the financial side," the official told reporters after the inaugural meeting in Washington of the forum for Japan-U.S. vice-ministerial economic dialogue.
Top financial officials from the G7 nations — Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States — adopted the action plan at a meeting in Washington on Saturday as a means of redoubling their efforts to deprive terrorists of funds.
Japan and the U.S. also agreed on the importance of successfully launching a new round of WTO negotiations at a ministerial meeting scheduled to be held in Doha, Qatar, in November, the official said.