By Saadet Gokce
ISTANBUL (AA) - Tokyo is set to host a trilateral meeting of Japanese, Chinese, and South Korean foreign ministers on Saturday, according to an official statement Tuesday.
Japan's top diplomat Iwaya Takeshi, China's Wang Yi, and South Korea's Cho Tae-yul will attend the meeting, the statement by Seoul's Foreign Ministry said.
During the 11th trilateral meeting, the ministers are expected to discuss economic cooperation, people-to-people exchanges, and the declining birthrate of the countries, as well as setting up a trilateral summit later this year.
The 10th trilateral meeting was held in South Korea's Busan city in November 2023.
Takeshi and Wang will also co-chair the sixth China-Japan High-Level Economic Dialogue in Tokyo, according to the Chinese Foreign Ministry. It is the first time in six years that the two sides have resumed such economic dialogue, since the last one held in Beijing in 2019.
They are expected to discuss issues such as China's ban on imports of Japanese sea products.
Japan had released treated radioactive water from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant last August, triggering angry reactions from neighbors, including China and South Korea, with Beijing banning the import of Japanese seafood.
According to the daily Japan Times, another trilateral meeting of the countries' trade ministers is expected to be held in Seoul in late March, to be the first since 2019, with a possible trilateral free trade deal and ways to strengthen the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership free trade pact to be on the agenda of the talks.
South Korea will also host the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum this fall, with Seoul likely to seek the cooperation of Tokyo and Beijing for the summit’s success, according to media reports.