Senior government officials from Japan and Mexico will hold talks Thursday in Mexico City to accelerate negotiations for a bilateral free-trade agreement, an official at the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry said Friday.
The talks were launched in November following an agreement between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and President Vicente Fox in October to start FTA negotiations with an eye to concluding the talks within a year of their start.
The upcoming talks will be the third of their kind following meetings in Tokyo in November and February.
The Japanese delegation will be led by Ryuichiro Yamazaki, ambassador for international economic affairs, the official said. Angel Villalobos, vice minister of the economy ministry in charge of international commerce, will head the Mexican delegation.
Officials from the Foreign Ministry, the Finance Ministry, the Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Ministry and METI are expected to take part in the talks.