Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Shoichi Nakagawa said Tuesday it should be possible to hold ministerial talks in June to accelerate World Trade Organization efforts aimed at determining the size of tariff reductions and other trade liberalization measures in the current round of WTO negotiations.

Nakagawa told a news conference after a Cabinet meeting the same day that he wants to visit Europe and South America in late April and early May to push the talks forward.

The WTO last week abandoned a ministerial meeting.