Mexico, Japan Agree To Start Free-Trade Pact Negotiations.(Brief Article)(Statistical Data Included)

The leaders of Mexico and Japan agreed to consider a bilateral free- trade agreement, one of several such deals Japan is trying to seal with its trading partners. Mexican President Vicente Fox, who recently visited Tokyo after visiting South Korea, proposed establishing a joint group to study lowering tariffs and other trade barriers between the countries, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi agreed to Fox's plan, while noting that Japanese companies are interested in developing Mexico's oil and natural gas industries, the ministry said. The two leaders didn't discuss when the panel would commence, but ministry sources said the discussions could begin this year with the prospect that a bilateral free-trade pact could be reached in 2003.

Talks come as trade between the two countries is growing. Japanese exports to Mexico rose 12 percent to $4.7 billion in 2000, while trade in the other direction grew 37 percent to $2.1 billion. Japan mostly exported automobile parts and machines, while Mexico's main exports were oil and agricultural products.

Japan is discussing a free trade pact with Singapore and considering such an arrangement with South Korea. Mexico, which is already party to free-trade agreements with many industrialized countries, would be the first non-Asian nation to hold such talks with Japan.

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