Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda on Friday announced that Japan will take part in talks on the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement, a multilateral scheme for abolishing tariffs in principle and for liberalizing a wide range of economic activities, including investment and services. He will convey his decision to U.S. President Barack Obama and other leaders concerned during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum summit being held in Hawaii this weekend.
Chile, New Zealand, Singapore and Brunei signed the original TPP accord in 2005. The United States, Australia, Malaysia, Peru and Vietnam are negotiating to enlarge the TPP. Because of procedures in the U.S., Japan is expected be able to officially take part in the talks early next year or later.
Mr. Noda has said that as a country for which trade is important, Japan must "take in" the growth potential of the Asia-Pacific region and push high-level economic partnership with a large number of countries strategically and in a multisided way through the TPP.