Japan will begin consultations with the United States and other countries trying to build a regional free trade agreement known as the Trans-Pacific Partnership after the Cabinet on Tuesday approved the latest policy on free trade, which did not indicate whether Japan will join accession talks, Kyodo News reported.

The approval came just three days ahead of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum summit in Yokohama, where building a regionwide free trade area is expected to be one of the main topics for discussion.

Prime Minister Naoto Kan indicated his intention to join TPP negotiations last month. But the country is divided over joining the agreement. Japan's business and industrial sectors favor joining the negotiations, but the heavily protected agricultural sector fears the impact of cheaper imports after joining the agreement.

The Japanese government's basic policy on trade liberalization seeks to strike a balance between further liberalization of trade and agricultural reform.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku said at a news conference that Japan is expected to decide whether to join the negotiations of the multilateral trade agreement around next June after discussing more deeply potential measures to improve the competitiveness of the country's agriculture.

TPP members include Singapore and New Zealand. The United States, Australia and three other countries are in talks with the TPP members over joining the trans-Pacific agreement, which seeks to scrap all tariffs among member countries in 10 years.

The nine countries currently involved in the TPP negotiations are all APEC members.