Talks on an Australia-Japan free- trade agreement were difficult even before the March earthquake and tsunami, which led to them being suspended, in part because of Japan's intransigence on opening up ­protected agricultural markets, ­particularly rice, reports The Australian Financial Review .

The two countries have held 12 rounds of talks since 2007, when plans for an agreement were discussed by former prime minister John Howard and then Japanese prime minister Junichiro Koizumi.

In a recent interview with The Australian Financial Review in Tokyo, Japan's State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Yutaka Banno, said the country was keen to re-energise the ­discussions.

"Because of this unprecedented once-in-a-millennium disaster, the working-level consultations have been delayed," he said.

"But I believe it is not only important for our two countries to resume the talks but to speed them up as soon as possible."

Australian trade officials were not surprised when Japan suspended talks after the disaster, as officials were tied up with helping farmers in one of Japan's most important agricultural regions in Tohoku.

The Gillard government has also been concerned that the continuing instability of the Democratic Party of Japan-led coalition government of Prime Minister Naoto Kan means there is little hope of clinching an agreement in the short term.