By Xinhua,
Canberra : Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd called Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda on Thursday to discuss the situation in Myanmar, where millions of people have been left homeless and at risk of disease following a recent deadly cyclone.
“Both leaders agreed to continue efforts to encourage the Burmese government to allow more assistance in more quickly and speed up the distribution of aid within the country,” a government spokesman said.
This was the first conversation with the Japanese leader since Rudd won the election last November.
“Both agreed to cooperate where we could on helping the Burmese people in this crisis,” the spokesman said.
“The prime minister said he was looking forward to visiting Japan and further strengthening the strong Australia-Japan relationship,” the spokesman added.
Rudd is due to make an official visit Tokyo in June and will go back to Japan in July for the G8 summit.