Photo : YONHAP News
Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba is set to visit Laos this week to attend a series of annual leaders’ summits hosted by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN).
According to Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Keiichiro Tachibana on Tuesday, Ishiba is expected to hold separate one-on-one meetings with state leaders during the visit from Thursday to Saturday, without specifying the names of the state leaders.
Japan’s public broadcaster NHK said Ishiba is expected to meet with President Yoon Suk Yeol on the margins of the ASEAN-led summits, and that talks are under way to also arrange bilateral summits with Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi.
Should Yoon and Ishiba hold separate talks in Laos, it would be their first face-to-face meeting since Ishiba took office on October 1.
During their phone conversation last Wednesday, the two leaders agreed on the need to enhance unity between the two sides, as well as within a trilateral cooperative framework involving the U.S.