TOKYO (AP) -- Leaders from Japan and Singapore on Sunday agreed to sign a free-trade agreement by late next year that would become Japan's first bilateral-trade accord and Singapore's second, a government official said.
In a 30-minute meeting, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and his Singaporean counterpart Goh Chok Tong, who was on a three-day visit to Tokyo, pledged to begin trade talks around January, said Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman Hiroyuki Minami.
The countries plan to seal the pact by December 2001, he said. However, the two leaders did not discuss specific accords that would be included in next year's talks.
Until now, Japan has entered only multilateral foreign trade agreements. Instead of establishing trade agreements with individual countries, it traditionally has negotiated through the World Trade Organization, Minami said.
Singapore's previous bilateral-trade agreement was with New Zealand, he said.
The spokesman said it was possible that Japan would establish bilateral free-trade ties with Mexico, Chile and other countries, but that the government would first watch how well the deal with Singapore goes.
The accords would probably cover such topics as cross-border investment and customs duties, said Minami.
Goh arrived in Japan on Saturday and was scheduled to return home on Monday.:
