Three Japanese ministers are expected Tuesday for the annual ministerial meeting with the European Union (EU), which is designed to give impetus into the global trade process following last December's abortive meeting ofthe World Trade Organization (WTO) in Seattle.

Japan's Trade and Industry Minister Takashi Fukaya, Foreign Minister Yohei Kono and Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Minister Touichiro Tamazawa will hold talks with European Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy and other top EU officials.

Since the Seattle meeting, both the European group and Japan have made appeals for the multilateral process to continue, and urged the WTO to launch the new round of talks as soon as possible.

The EU-Japan ministerial meeting in Brussels is expected to reaffirm a joint commitment to push the process forward.

Fukaya said recently that he wanted close consultations with the EU to promote an early launch of the WTO talks to tackle issues like the perceived lack of transparency in the organization's decision-making.

"The new round must be launched because the WTO has helped resolve many issues, including Japan-US auto disputes," Fukaya said recently.

But he also warned that it will not be easy to launch a new round of trade talks by the end of this year as the differences on key issues are wide. (Xinhua)