By IRNA-Kyodo
Tokyo : Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura will host a regional meeting in Tokyo on Wednesday with his counterparts from Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Myanmar and Laos to strengthen Japan’s cooperation with the Mekong region, the ministry said Friday.
The ministers are expected to discuss topics in various fields including economic cooperation and cultural exchanges.
In addition to the regional meeting, Komura will also engage in respective bilateral talks on Wednesday and Thursday.
The Japan-Mekong foreign ministerial meeting, the first of its kind, is to realize an agreement in January last year between Japan, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
As part of its support for integration and narrowing the economic gaps between members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Japan has been especially active in assisting the Mekong region, such as with public works projects, amid the growing influence of China in the area.
Komura will hold bilateral talks with the foreign ministers of Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos on Wednesday and with the foreign ministers of Myanmar and Thailand on Thursday.
The Mekong ministers are also slated to pay a courtesy call on Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Wednesday afternoon, as well as to attend events with the Japan-Mekong parliamentarians league and a regional investment promotion seminar on Thursday morning.
In talks with Vietnamese President Nguyen Minh Triet in Tokyo last November, Fukuda assured him that Japan will expand aid to Vietnam and other countries in the Mekong region over three years beginning in the current fiscal year.