The government on Tuesday approved a basic plan to promote free-trade agreements, prioritizing accords with Asian trading partners to help build an East Asian community.
It also adopted a set of 12 criteria to choose potential FTA partners, envisioning future negotiations with trading partners outside East Asia.
These were decided at a meeting of Cabinet ministers involved in FTA negotiations, said an official at the Prime Minister's Official Residence.
"We need to have a sense of speed. Push ahead in areas you can start with," Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi was quoted as saying by the official.
Japan has already signed FTAs with Singapore and Mexico, and agreed in November with the Philippines on a basic accord. Talks are now under way with Thailand, Malaysia and South Korea.
The idea of setting up an East Asian community is meant to enhance regional cooperation based on the ASEAN-plus-three process involving Association of Southeast Asian Nations member states plus Japan, China and South Korea. Japan has suggested that Australia, New Zealand and India be admitted as members of the proposed community.
The criteria for selecting potential partners include whether an FTA would help strengthen Japan's economic power and solve political and diplomatic issues, whether it would help strengthen Japan's position in international negotiations such as at the World Trade Organization, and whether it would help secure and diversify stable imports of food and other resources for Japan.