TOKYO: Australian Prime Minister Julia Gillard praised Japan Friday for remaining committed to sealing a free trade deal with her country despite its immediate need to concentrate on recovering from last month's earthquake and tsunami. Gillard spoke in Tokyo on the third day of a four-day trip to Japan that included meetings with top officials and the royal family. She was scheduled to visit a tsunami-ravaged city on the country's northeast coast Saturday where an Australian relief team worked last month. Gillard said she was heartened to hear Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan affirm during their talks Thursday night that trade negotiations should resume as soon as possible. “A free trade agreement would make us more prosperous,” Gillard said. “It would bring our economies and our people closer together.” Kan had declared before the March 11 disaster that his country must open up its markets and embrace free trade — or risk getting left further behind other regional rivals. After meeting with Kan Thursday, Gillard vowed that her country would keep energy and other vital resources flowing to support Japan's recovery from its disasters, while she urged more investment in Australia's liquefied natural gas development. Japan is the world's biggest importer of LNG and demand is expected to surge after the crises forced shutdowns at many of the country's power plants and triggered the country's worst ever nuclear power disaster. Gillard and Kan also agreed on the need to cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency in strengthening nuclear energy safety standards following the accident at Japan's Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear plant, whose radiation leaks have forced the evacuation of nearly 80,000 people.
