New Zealand Prime Minister Clark to visit Japan on May

TOKYO, May 2 (Kyodo) - (EDS: UPDATING WITH CLARK'S STATEMENT AND OTHER DETAILS)

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark will visit Japan on May 13-15 for talks with Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and to give a keynote address at the Japan New Zealand Partnership Forum, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said Friday.

Japanese officials would not confirm details of what would be discussed between Fukuda and Clark, but Clark recently told New Zealand media that she would be visiting Tokyo and Seoul with free trade on her mind.

New Zealand and South Korea have commissioned a joint study that backs a bilateral free trade agreement, and Clark is scheduled to meet with newly elected President Lee Myung Bak on May 16 to discuss the way forward.

Her trip to Northeast Asia will come just weeks after New Zealand signed a groundbreaking FTA with China, marking the fifth so far for New Zealand and the first comprehensive FTA that China has signed with a developed country.

Japan is New Zealand's third largest export market, while China is its fourth and South Korea stands in sixth place.

In a statement issued Friday in Wellington, Clark said Japan is not only one of New Zealand's most important trading partners but "as democracies, we are also natural partners within the dynamic Asia-Pacific region."

"It is important for Japan and New Zealand to ensure that our political and economic relationship keeps pace with developments in the wider region," she said.

Last month, Clark told the New Zealand Herald that during her last visit to Japan in June 2005, she raised the prospect of New Zealand-Japan free trade with then Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

"I said to him that it was a matter of concern to us that our relationship with Japan seemed a bit static and that we had developed a dynamic and forward-looking agenda with China -- as could be seen with the FTA negotiations -- and we would like to have a more dynamic and forward-looking agenda with Japan," she was quoted as saying.

In her statement Friday, Clark said a particular focus of her talks with Japanese and South Korean leaders "will be how we can work together for good outcomes from the East Asia Summit in December."

The next EAS, which will be the fourth since 2005, is to be held in Bangkok among leaders of Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Brunei, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.

Clark met Fukuda at the last EAS, which was held in Singapore in November 2007.

The inaugural Japan New Zealand Partnership Forum where Clark is scheduled to give a keynote address on May 15 is a business-led initiative that brings together senior political figures, top executives, and opinion leaders.

Around 80 participants from the two countries are to attend the two-day government-supported forum that begins May 14. It will also be addressed by New Zealand Trade Minister Phil Goff and participated in by a senior Japanese government representative.