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TOKYO- JAPAN said on Monday said it had struck free trade deals with Vietnam and Switzerland, seeking to strengthen economic ties with individual countries amid a deadlock in World Trade Organisation talks.
About 92 per cent of trade in goods between Japan and Vietnam will be duty-free within the next 10 years, Tokyo officials said.
Under the agreement with Switzerland, Japan's first with a European country, 99 per cent of trade will be tariff-free within a decade. Neither agreement has been formally signed yet.
'Vietnam gave us a high level of liberalisation that it had never given to other countries such as China and South Korea' under their deals with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a foreign ministry official said.
Japan, Asia's largest economy, has also already signed a separate deal with the whole of ASEAN, which includes Vietnam.
Vietnam will get free access to the Japanese market for shrimps, durian, and okra, among other farm and marine products, while Japan will secure duty-free trade for its auto parts, steel and electronic goods, officials said.
Hanoi and Tokyo also agreed to start talks on further opening the door to Vietnamese nurses and carers who hope to work in Japan.
The trade deal with Switzerland encompasses a range of goods and services, as well as the issues of intellectual property rights and deregulation in electronic commerce.
The deal could be strategically important for Japan as the first bilateral deal with a European country, said another Japanese official.
'Japan has not made a formal decision on what kind of trade policy to take for major markets such as the European Union and the United States,' he said.
Japan has struck free trade agreements with a clutch of Asian countries as well as Chile and Mexico. It is also working towards similar deals with Australia, India and South Korea.
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