Japanese Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga will leave Tokyo for Singapore on Friday to attend an annual Asian security forum to be organized there by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a leading politico-military think tank based in London, the Defense Agency said Thursday.
While in Singapore, Nukaga, a state minister, will meet Australian Defense Minister Brendan Nelson and British State Minister for the Defense Ministry Adam Ingram, a minister not in the Cabinet, both of whom are also participating in the security forum. Nukaga wants to meet with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
(Kyodo) _ Japanese Defense Agency Director General Fukushiro Nukaga will leave Tokyo for Singapore on Friday to attend an annual Asian security forum to be organized there by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a leading politico-military think tank based in London, the Defense Agency said Thursday.
While in Singapore, Nukaga, a state minister, will meet Australian Defense Minister Brendan Nelson and British State Minister for the Defense Ministry Adam Ingram, a minister not in the Cabinet, both of whom are also participating in the security forum. Nukaga wants to meet with U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.
Nukaga's talks with Nelson and Ingram are expected to cover the timing of a pullout of Japan's ground troops from Samawah in southern Iraq's Muthana Province where British and Australian forces have been tasked to maintain peace and order.
Protected by British and Australian forces, about 600 troops from the Japanese Ground Self-Defense Force are deployed in Samawah to provide humanitarian and reconstruction assistance.
Nukaga is also expected to discuss with Nelson and Ingram the current state of political processes toward Iraq's rehabilitation.
If the meeting with Rumsfeld is realized, Nukaga will discuss coordination between Japan and the United States in the field of international cooperation for peace, ahead of the scheduled June 29 summit in Washington between Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and U.S. President George W. Bush.
Nukaga will deliver a speech at the forum Saturday and return to Tokyo on Monday.
The security forum, fifth in a series since 2002, is called the Asia Security Summit, or the Shangri-La Dialogue named from its venue Shangri-La Hotel.
The British think tank says defense ministers or minister-level officials from 22 countries will attend this year's three-day forum beginning Friday.
The countries are Australia, Britain, Brunei, Cambodia, Canada, China, East Timor, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
