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SINGAPORE, which holds the rotating chair of the Asean bloc, on Monday welcomed Tokyo's ratification of an economic and trade pact with Southeast Asian nations.
Japan approved the free trade accord with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) on Saturday as the country's divided parliament ended its session.
Under the deal, about 90 per cent of trade between Asia's largest economy and the 10-nation Asean, which has a combined population of 550 million, will be tariff-free within 10 years.
'This is welcome news. It signals Japan's strong commitment to Asean,' a spokesman for the Singapore ministry of foreign affairs said in a statement.
A comprehensive economic partnership agreement, the core of which is the free trade accord, was signed in April by Malaysia, the last of the Asean members to sign off on it.
The pact will be the first multinational free trade agreement for Japan, which has also been seeking to conclude a flurry of bilateral pacts amid a breakdown in global trade negotiations.
Japan is among Asean's top three trading and investment partners, with a total trade volume of 162 billion US dollars as of 2006, Singapore's foreign ministry said.
The economic partnership agreement 'will boost two-way trade between Asean and Japan, and provide strong impetus for economic growth and prosperity in both regions,' it said. -- AFP
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