Japan, Turkey to resume nuclear pact talks

PanARMENIAN.Net - Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan agreed to resume negotiations on their countries' nuclear cooperation pact, a government official said.

During their talks on the sidelines of the Group of 20 summit in the French resort town of Cannes, Noda told Erdogan that Tokyo will move ahead with civilian nuclear cooperation with Turkey by sharing lessons from the crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, according to the Japanese official.

Touching on Turkey's plan to construct a nuclear power station, Erdogan was quoted by the official as telling Noda that he hopes the bilateral negotiations on the matter will go forward.

The negotiations have been suspended since Japan's worst nuclear plant accident was triggered by the devastating March 11 earthquake and tsunami.

Noda, meanwhile, expressed his willingness for Tokyo to consider additional measures to support victims of a powerful earthquake which jolted eastern Turkey late last month, the official said.

Erdogan said he hopes Turkey and Japan will sign a free trade agreement, while expressing his eagerness to visit Japan at an early date, the official added, Mainichi Japan reported.