"The meeting will be held in Taipei soon, and more details will be made public in the coming days," Tsai told a news briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

"Taiwan hopes to forge a consensus with Japan on settling bilateral fishery disputes and work out a joint management mechanism in disputed overlapping waters by putting aside the sovereignty controversy surrounding the Tiaoyutai Islands in the East China Sea," he said.

The Japanese call the Tiaoyutais the Senkaku Islands.

Taipei and Tokyo have held 15 rounds of fisheries talks since 1996, with the last round occurring in July 2005 in Tokyo, but sharp differences remain between the two countries.

The association was set up under the MOFA in 1972 to handle affairs relating to Japan after Tokyo switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing that same year.