Japan-Australia foreign, defense ministers to meet next Wed.+

TOKYO, May 14 Kyodo -
Japanese and Australian foreign and defense ministers will meet in Tokyo next
Wednesday for talks on security cooperation, nuclear disarmament and
nonproliferation as well as a bilateral defense logistics agreement, Foreign
Minister Katsuya Okada said Friday.
Okada said he and Japanese Defense Minister Toshimi Kitazawa will hold talks
with Australian Foreign Minister Stephen Smith and Defense Minister John
Faulkner.
The so-called two-plus-two meeting will be the third of its kind between the
two countries. The framework was launched in June 2007.
Okada said he expects the upcoming talks, which will also cover regional
security affairs, will further boost the strategic partnership between Japan
and Australia.
The two countries have been negotiating the so-called acquisition and
cross-servicing agreement that would enable them to share food, fuel and other
supplies and services in their operations.
In the areas of nuclear disarmament and nonproliferation, Japan and Australia
made joint proposals to the United Nations in March.
The two countries called on nuclear weapon states to take as soon as possible
such measures as providing ''stronger negative security assurances'' of not
using nuclear weapons against non-nuclear weapon states that comply with the
Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.
==Kyodo
2010-05-14 23:19:32


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