Premier Wen Jiabao, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak (left), Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen and Japan's Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda (right) hold hands for a photo at the ASEAN Plus Three session of the 21st ASEAN and East Asia summits in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, on Monday. [Photo/Agencies]?

PHNOM PENH - Trade ministers from China, Japan and South Korea announced in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Tuesday the launch of the FTA talks on the occasion of 21st Summit and Related Summits.

A press statement issued on Tuesday said, "Following the leaders' Join Declaration at the Fifth Trilateral Summit Meeting in Beijing on 13 May 2012, Mr Chen Deming, minister of commerce of the People's Republic of China, Mr Edano Yukio, minister of Economy, Trade and Industry of Japan, and Mr Bark Tae Ho, minister for Trade of the Republic of Korea, met in Phnom Penh, Cambodia on Nov 20 on the occasion of 21st Summit and Related Summits, and announced the launch of the FTA negotiations among China, Japan and Korea."

The ministers further decided that the first round of the trilateral FTA negotiations would be held in early 2013.