|
Download A free-trade agreement among China, Japan and the Republic of Korea would be a major achievement in trilateral economic integration, but it needs thorough preparation, said a top official from a regional inter-governmental organization. Negotiations among the countries were expected to begin before the annual summit, but were delayed by Seoul's reluctance, Kyodo News cited a senior official in Tokyo as saying. The parties agreed to hold talks on the agreement by the end of the year. "The important thing is that all three parties agreed to start negotiations. Whether they start tomorrow or some other time within this year is not so important," Shin Bong-kil, the Trilateral Cooperation Secretariat's secretary-general said. "We have studied this project (the FTA) for the last 10 years, and we need some more patience. The three countries have differences in their approaches to the negotiations, but mostly they agree on the necessity," he said. Shin and his team from the TCS were in Beijing for the fifth trilateral summit meeting. They also participated in the last meeting, which was held in September in the ROK, where the three countries also discussed FTA negotiations. "We also talked about the TCS' role. Basically, they agree that we should explore more possibilities of active participation in this process," he said. Established eight months ago, the TCS is an inter-governmental organization that aims to systematically push forward trilateral cooperation, Shin said. | 
