TOKYO, March 13: Japan and Switzerland held a meeting here on Tuesday to prepare for negotiations on a free trade agreement which would be Tokyo's first with a European country, officials said.

"At the meeting, discussions were held on the framework and procedure of negotiations on an economic partnership agreement (EPA) in order to ensure smooth progress in the negotiations," the Japanese foreign ministry said in a press statement.

"We will keep in touch at the working level to arrange the date for the first round of EPA talks," an official at the ministry's economic affairs division said.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey agreed on the start of free trade talks when they held a 30-minute telephone conversation in mid-January.—AFP