Japan and China will hold the inaugural meeting of a panel in Shanghai on Feb. 7 and 8 to negotiate trade in three farm products at the center of a recently settled bilateral trade row, the Japanese government said Tuesday.
Working-level officials from the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry, the Foreign Ministry, the Finance Ministry and the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, as well as representatives of domestic producer and importer groups, will be in the Japanese delegation, it said.
China will be represented by officials of the Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Ministry and the Chamber of Commerce for Importers and Exporters of Foodstuffs, Native Produce and Animal Byproducts, a government official said.
The panel will be set up in line with an agreement last month between the two countries to resolve the dispute over stone leeks, shiitake and rushes for tatami mats and to discuss in the future their production, demand and trade levels.
The dispute flared up in April when Japan imposed safeguard import curbs on the three items, most of which come from China, preliminarily for 200 days.
China retaliated in June by slapping punitive tariffs on Japanese vehicles, air conditioners and mobile phones.
To select representatives for the panel meetings, Japanese importers organized themselves earlier in the month into three groups that respond to the three items.