After Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul announced on Sunday the start of talks on a trilateral free-trade agreement within in this year, a joint declaration said on May 14 the three nations will not stop at a trilateral FTA but will push forward one covering all of East Asia.

Leaders of the three Asian neighbors also vowed in the document to further enhance their future-oriented comprehensive cooperative partnership.

Premier Wen Jiabao, Republic of Korea President Lee Myung-bak and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda signed a "milestone" trilateral investment agreement on Sunday after years of negotiations, paving the way for trilateral FTA talks.

They also announced that talks on the trilateral FTA, which would cover one-fifth of the world's trade volume, would be launched this year.

The joint declaration said the three countries should immediately start preparation work for the FTA talks, including domestic procedures and working level consultations.

The three nations have "fully realized" how important their cooperation is, against the background of a grim world economy and the turbulent situation in West Asia and North Africa, said the document.

"In that regard, we agree unanimously to further enhance the future-oriented comprehensive cooperative partnership of the three nations."

The leaders also agreed in the declaration to promote investment by foreign reserve authorities in one another's government bonds.

They also encouraged the three countries to further ease visa requirements and expand sister/friendship city exchanges to achieve the target of 26 million tourist visits among the three countries by 2015.

Energy and cyber security as well as proliferation of weapons of mass destruction were also listed among priorities for trilateral cooperation on non-traditional security.