TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will visit Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. plants in North Carolina during his trip to the United States from Monday through April 14, the Japanese government said Friday.

Kishida will be the first Japanese prime minister to visit the United States as a state guest since Shinzo Abe in 2015.

He will hold talks with US President Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday. On Thursday, Kishida will deliver a speech at the US Congress and hold the first-ever trilateral summit with Biden and Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.

The Japanese leader will travel to North Carolina on April 12 to visit a Toyota battery plant now under construction and a Honda business jet plant.

Kishida aims to highlight Japan’s contribution to the US economy through investments and job creation.

“We want to confirm and communicate the fact that the Japan-US relationship is supported by a wide range of people in the societies of both countries,” Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshimasa Hayashi told a press conference.

JIJI Press