Negotiations between Thailand and Japan on the implementation of the Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement (JTEPA) due to be held late April will be postponed after the gigantic quake and tsunami hit Japan, a senior Thai commerce ministry official said.

Srirat Rastapana, director-general of Trade Negotiations Department, said planned talks on the implementation of JTEPA which would focus on the progress of free trade and tariff reductions, in which more than 6,000 goods items have been reduced since late 2008, will be postponed after the tsunami hit Japan on March 11.

Officials of both countries had also planned to discuss problems on tariff reductions for some Thai agricultural products and Japanese industrial goods during the talks, Mrs Srirat said.

The new date will be set later after the Japan government is able to resolve the disaster crux, she said.

Mrs Srirat said her department would accelerate the providing of knowledge to the public on the ASEAN Community, scheduled to be established in 2015, particularly to small – and medium-sized enterprises, and agriculturalists.

via JTEPA talks postponed after tsunami hit Japan.