Japan and Singapore are now not expected to sign a free trade agreement until after early next year, diplomatic sources said Tuesday.
The almost certain delay is blamed on changes to the schedules of the countries' leaders following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
The effective date of Japan's first FTA may be postponed as late as summer.
In October, Japan and Singapore reached a basic agreement to conclude an economic cooperation accord, featuring free trade arrangements, by the end of the year.
Japan proposed inviting Prime Minister Goh Chok Ton to a signing ceremony in Tokyo in December following Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's planned visit to Southeast Asia in September.
The attacks in the U.S., however, forced Koizumi to cancel the visit, and Tokyo needed to change the schedule for the signing, the sources said.
As a result, the governments will sign the bilateral economic cooperation agreement after Koizumi's rescheduled visit to Southeast Asia on Jan. 9, the sources said.
But as deliberations on the agreement in the Diet will begin after the expected passage in late March of a national budget for fiscal 2002, the effective date of the accord is likely to be delayed until a few months after April, the sources said.