ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (Kyodo) Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and his Indian counterpart, Manmohan Singh, adopted a report on a bilateral free-trade agreement during talks Monday after the end of the Group of Eight summit.

The two leaders welcomed the paper compiled by a bilateral joint study group to explore the possibility of signing an FTA, paving the way for the launch of official negotiations later this year, Japanese officials said.

The group, which consists of representatives from government, business and academia, had conducted studies on the feasibility of concluding an FTA since last July.