Japan will propose easing an embargo on the international trade of minke whales and Bryde's whales at an international wildlife conservation meeting in November in Chile, sources close to the meeting said Friday.

The Japanese government has already notified concerned nations such as the United States of the decision, the sources said, adding that Japan will finalize the proposal early next week.

But the move is likely to draw flak from antiwhaling nations and environmental conservation groups. Japan was sharply criticized last month at the annual International Whaling Commission conference held in Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, for its efforts to resume commercial whaling.

Japan will seek to relax the ban on the trade of Bryde's whales in the North Pacific and minke whales in the Northern Hemisphere, except in the waters in and around the Sea of Japan, according to the sources. The proposal will be presented at the meeting of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES).