The government Sunday dispatched a team to Mexico led by a Cabinet Secretariat official to try to get stalled bilateral talks on a free trade agreement rolling, sources said.
During its stay in Mexico for about a week, the team, headed by Assistant Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Shotaro Yachi, will meet with Mexican trade officials in an effort to pave the way for an early deal on the FTA by working out specific negotiation schedules, the government sources said.
The government has decided to have the Cabinet Secretariat office, rather than relevant ministries, take the leadership in the talks in an effort to review Japan's overall negotiation strategy, the sources said.
Critics say Japan lags significantly behind other Asian countries in FTA negotiations due to a lack of policy coordination among the Foreign, Economy, Trade and Industry, and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries ministries.
Earlier this month, Japan and Mexico agreed to resume working-level FTA talks in Mexico City in late November.
The two countries failed to strike a deal during their Tokyo meeting in October as they were unable to iron out differences over farm trade, particularly how to treat pork and orange juice imports from Mexico.