TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio left for Australia on Friday to strengthen bilateral cooperation in the areas of security and energy.

Kishida is set to hold talks with Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in Perth, western Australia, on Saturday.

With China expanding its presence in the East and South China seas and the South Pacific, the two leaders are expected to release a new joint declaration on security cooperation and agree to work more closely in the areas of resources and energy.

“Australia is a special strategic partner serving as the core of the partnerships of such like-minded countries as Japan, the United States, Australia and India,” Kishida told reporters before leaving Tokyo International Airport at Haneda on a government plane.

“I want to make this trip an opportunity to deepen the strong ties between Japan and Australia,” he added.

This is his first visit to Australia since he took office in October last year.

In his meeting with Albanese, Kishida aims to affirm cooperation toward a free and open Indo-Pacific region.

Through the new declaration, Japan hopes to highlight its policy of deepening its relationship with Australia, regarded by Tokyo as a quasi-ally, sources said.

The new declaration will follow an existing joint declaration on security signed in March 2007 by then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and then Australian Prime Minister John Howard.

Kishida and Albanese are expected to agree on cooperation to ensure stable supplies of liquefied natural gas and food from Australia to Japan amid soaring prices worsened by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

This will be the third face-to-face meeting between the two leaders, after they met in May and September this year. Kishida will return home Sunday.

JIJI Press