Japan's Abe scores central bank win, aims at trade
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TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's hard-charging prime minister got his pick installed as central bank chief Friday, then readied to tackle the powerful farming lobby by committing the world's number three economy to pan-Pacific trade talks.
Mr Shinzo Abe has surprised many since his December election, racing through his first few months in office with an economic pragmatism that has borne fruit and confounding those who tried to paint him as an out-of-touch nationalist.
Fresh from victory in parliament's upper chamber, where lawmakers backed Mr Haruhiko Kuroda for the Bank of Japan's top job, he was preparing to tell the country it needed a seat at the trade negotiating table.
"I will hold a news conference at 6:00 pm (0900 GMT) and announce joining the talks" on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), he told senior officials of his Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), according to a party official.
