Japan and Britain agreed Friday to work together to promote e-commerce worldwide, Japanese and British officials said.
Under the accord, the two nations will make efforts to spur competition in order to create an inexpensive but high-quality information infrastructure, they said.
Japan and Britain will also consider setting common criteria for differentiating between consumer protection-oriented Internet Web sites and ones that are not conscious of consumer protection, they said.
The pact also calls on the two nations to fine-tune their views before they join discussions on e-commerce issues at meetings such as the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the World Trade Organization.
The two countries timed the announcement of the bilateral e-commerce pact to coincide with the four-day visit to Japan by British Minister for E-Commerce and Small Business Patricia Hewitt. The visit ends today.
The accord with Britain is the third bilateral agreement of its kind for Japan, following pacts with the United States and Australia.