Tokyo and Beijing have agreed to hold the first meeting of a bilateral trade panel charged with discussing import levels for three Chinese farm products in early February, the farm minister said Friday.

Tsutomu Takebe, minister of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, told a news conference that government officials, agricultural representatives and exporters from both countries will assemble to attempt to fix mutually acceptable import quotas for stone leeks, shiitake and tatami straw.

Japan will be represented by officials from the farm ministry, the Foreign Ministry, the Finance Ministry and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, as well as by the deputies from the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (Zenchu), farm ministry officials said.