TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Japan's government said Friday that China has agreed to begin procedures to resume imports of Japanese seafood, lifting a ban imposed after the release of treated radioactive wastewater from the crippled Fukushima nuclear power plant into the sea.

Chinese authorities are expected to issue a public notice easing the blanket ban in place since August 2023 and soon open registration for Japanese facilities that process and preserve marine products, sources familiar with the matter said.

The two nations have agreed on "technical requirements for the resumption of seafood exports" to China, Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a meeting of related ministers, part of which was open to the media.

Meanwhile, Japan will continue to seek the removal by China of remaining restrictions on food imports from 10 Japanese prefectures, including Fukushima, which were imposed after the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami that triggered the nuclear disaster, Hayashi added.

Farm minister Shinjiro Koizumi, who assumed his post on May 21, told a press conference that the restart of seafood exports from 37 prefectures to China would be "a significant milestone."

It may take a few months for shipments of Japanese seafood to China to begin, as the registration process must be completed and the products must pass radiation checks, the sources said.

Japanese and Chinese officials held talks in Beijing on Wednesday to reach the agreement, which only covers businesses that were allowed to export products to China before Japan started discharging the wastewater in August 2023, according to the sources.

In September last year, the two governments agreed to gradually resume seafood trade on the condition that third-party countries would monitor the water release from the nuclear plant. China had strongly opposed the discharge, citing potential risks to human health and the environment.

Following the agreement, China collected marine samples near the Fukushima plant under the framework of the International Atomic Energy Agency and did not find abnormal concentrations of radioactive substances.

China's ban on Japanese seafood has been a major source of tension between the two Asian neighbors, who remain at odds over issues including territorial disputes and Beijing's military activities.