A group will be set up in March to press the government to promote free-trade agreements with Japan's trading partners in Asia, business and academic leaders agreed Tuesday.
The proposed "national council on promotion of economic integration to revitalize Japan" is the brainchild of Motoshige Ito, a professor of economics at the University of Tokyo.
The council is expected to be set up March 22 with around 100 members, according to the organizers.
Core members include Hiroshi Okuda, chairman of the Japan Business Federation (Nippon Keidanren), Masatoshi Koshiba, a Nobel laureate in physics in 2002, and singer Agnes Chan, an envoy of the Japan Committee of UNICEF.
Seiji Murata, vice minister of economy, trade and industry, said Monday his ministry welcomes the movement, saying such an attempt will help the public better understand free-trade agreements.
Japan only has one FTA, with Singapore.