TOKYO : Japan's free trade pact with Thailand will take effect on November 1, tearing down most tariffs between the two trading partners, the government said on Tuesday.

The controversial deal was inked in April after months of uncertainty due to Japan's uneasiness over the military coup and street protests in Bangkok.

Official documents on the deal were exchanged in Tokyo on Tuesday, clearing the way for a deal that "will invigorate the economies of Japan and Thailand and make bilateral relations closer through the strengthening of economic partnerships in various fields," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Under the agreement, about 97 percent of Japanese exports to Thailand and 92 percent of Thai exports to Japan will be tariff-free within 10 years.

Activists in Thailand have also expressed fears that the free-trade deal will turn their country into a dumping ground for Japan's toxic waste.

Japan, Thailand's largest investor, will scrap tariffs on Thai shrimp and tropical fruit such as mangoes and durian, although it will keep protecting Japan's politically powerful rice farmers.

Thailand will cut tariffs on automobiles with engines of 3000cc or larger to 60 percent from 80 percent over four years and eventually scrap all tariffs on steel imports.

Thailand has become a major construction hub for Japanese automakers.

For its part Japan, the world's second largest economy, has been seeking a growing number of bilateral free-trade deals amid the breakdown in global liberalisation talks.

It has inked trade pacts with other countries including Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines. - AFP/de