TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will visit India and Cambodia for three days from Saturday to discuss responses to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said Friday.

During his first overseas trip since his visit to Britain last November, Kishida will take up the Ukraine situation in talks with leaders of India and Cambodia and seek their cooperation over various aspects related to the crisis, the top government spokesman told a press conference.

Kishida is slated to meet with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Matsuno said that they will aim to advance cooperation between Japan and India and among them plus the two other countries forming the Quad framework–the United States and Australia–in an effort to realize a free and open Indo-Pacific. A visit to India by a Japanese prime minister will be the first in four and a half years.

Kishida and Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen plan to confirm their countries’ cooperation over regional and global issues, Matsuno said. Cambodia holds the rotating presidency of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

JIJI Press