TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his visiting Estonian counterpart, Juri Ratas, have agreed to strengthen the two countries' cooperation mainly in the economic field.

At their meeting held at Abe's office in Tokyo on Monday, the two leaders also affirmed that Japan and Estonia will work more closely together in such areas as information and communications technologies, and cybersecurity.

In addition, they confirmed bilateral cooperation in dealing with issues related to North Korea.

The Abe-Ratas meeting was joined by Kaido Hoovelson, a former professional sumo wrestler from Estonia, who competed in Japan under the ring name of Baruto.

At a banquet held after the meeting Abe thanked Hoovelson for working to enhance Japan-Estonia relations. Hoovelson, who had the rank of ozeki, the second highest in the makuuchi top division of Japanese professional sumo after the rank of yokozuna, retired from the sport in 2013 and now serves as a lawmaker in his home country.

JIJI Press