Korea, Japan, China agree to speed up FTA, RCEP talks

South Korea, Japan and China agreed Friday to accelerate talks aimed at establishing a three-way free trade agreement and a new mega trading bloc encompassing Asia and Oceania, the government said.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy said policymakers at the Trilateral Economic and Trade Ministers' Meeting in Seoul exchanged views on ways to expand trade and investment between the Northeast Asian neighbors.

"All sides agreed to work more closely on the FTA and the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership," it said.

The three countries are involved in both the FTA and the RCEP, which also includes the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, India, Australia and New Zealand.

The meeting, the first since 2012, also touched on such matters as East Asian economic integration, and global and regional issues being pursued by the World Trade Organization, the Group of 20 and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation.

The ministry said South Korea's Trade Minister Yoon Sang-jick, Japan's International Trade and Industry Minister Motoo Hayashi and China International Trade Representative Zhong Shan reviewed outstanding matters concerning e-commerce, small and medium-sized enterprises, intellectual property rights and logistics.

The ministry said the issues touched at the trade ministers meeting will be put forth at the summit meeting between the leaders of the three countries slated to take place in the South Korean capital Sunday.

In a welcoming address, Yoon said by holding talks on economic and trade matters, the three countries can jointly expand their presence on the international stage.

"With deterioration in global economic conditions, and three-way trade having made little progress since 2011, the latest meeting comes at an opportune time," the policymaker said.

He urged the three countries to exert strong leadership to push for the creation of an economic bloc in East Asia.

The three countries, along with North America and the European Union, form one of the three global economic pillars. The three countries are home to 20 percent of the world's population and account for 21.2 percent of the world's gross domestic product. (Yonhap)