U.S. President George W. Bush urged Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi by telephone Wednesday to lift Tokyo's 15-month-old ban on U.S. beef imports, Japanese government sources said.

Koizumi reiterated Tokyo's basic stance on its food safety policy, the sources said.

He told Bush Japan also basically wants to resume beef imports from the United States at an early time but the Japanese government cannot specify a timeframe for lifting the ban, according to the sources.

The prime minister was quoted as saying Tokyo will handle the issue in a manner that would not hurt Japan-U.S. relations.

The Koizumi administration's position is to wait for Food Safety Commission findings before deciding whether to lift the U.S. beef embargo in place since December 2003.

The talks were held for about 15 minutes amid growing U.S. pressure on Japan to specify a date for lifting the ban before U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's expected visit to Japan beginning March 18.

The beef trade issue is expected to be a primary topic during talks between Japanese Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura and Rice expected for March 19. Koizumi is also expected to meet with Rice and discuss the issue during her stay in Japan, which is expected to last two days.

The commission -- an independent panel of scientists -- is deliberating whether to end Japan's blanket mad cow disease testing for cattle aged 20 months or under.

Japan and the United States basically agreed in October on a plan that Tokyo will resume imports of U.S. beef of cattle aged up to 20 months.

Japan began testing all slaughtered cattle in October 2001, a month after discovering its first case of mad cow disease, or bovine spongiform encephalopathy.

It stopped imports of U.S. beef in December 2003, when the United States discovered its first BSE case. Japan was the largest importer of U.S. beef until then.

Consumer groups and the opposition camp in Japan have accused Cabinet ministers of recently urging the independent panel to hasten its conclusion on the matter under U.S. pressure.

A group of U.S. House of Representatives members submitted a resolution last week urging the U.S. government to impose economic sanctions on Japan for its ban on U.S. beef imports.

Source: Agencies