TOKYO - Japan and Malaysia will hold their first round of negotiations on a free trade agreement next week in Kuala Lumpur, a foreign ministry official said today.

Ichiro Fujisaki, deputy Minister for foreign affairs, will head the Japanese delegation for the one-day meeting on Tuesday, the official said.

Participants will discuss the possible scope of the accord and procedures in the negotiation process, which both sides aim at concluding in about one year, the official said.

Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and his Malaysian counterpart Abdullah Ahmad Badawi agreed in December to launch free trade talks when they met on the sidelines of a Japan-Asean summit in Tokyo.

Flexibility

The two countries have said the upcoming talks "should encompass the broad-ranging areas" discussed by a bilateral study group earlier.

They said they should also give due consideration to the need for flexibility in sensitive areas - widely interpreted as a reference to Japan's wish to protect its uncompetitive agricultural sector.

Japan has agreed with Thailand and the Philippines to start talks on bilateral free trade pacts and its first such deal, with Singapore, took effect in November in 2002.

Japan had been reluctant to conclude bilateral trade agreements due to its hard line over protection of farm products, in particular rice, but it has shifted its position following deadlock in World Trade Organisation talks and China's active overtures to neighbour countries in the region. - AFP