This was Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (left) and Japan Prime Minister Fumio Kishida's third in-person meeting in five months. - The Japan Times/ANN.
SINGAPORE, Sept 27 (The Straits Times/ANN): Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida discussed existing cooperation in the fields of digitalisation, sustainability, energy and multilateral trade during a meeting on Tuesday.
Lee was in Tokyo to attend the state funeral of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe.
Ahead of the funeral, Lee had a meeting with Kishida.
This was the two leaders' third in-person meeting in five months, Singapore's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said. Mr Lee previously met Mr Kishida during a working visit to Tokyo in May, and when Mr Kishida was on an official visit to Singapore in June.
On Tuesday, the two men reaffirmed Singapore and Japan's close and longstanding ties, and also agreed to expand cooperation in areas of mutual interest.
They also had a fruitful discussion on regional and global developments.
Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said the two leaders "exchanged views on the situation in the East and South China Seas, economic coercion, and dealing with North Korea including on the nuclear, missile and abductions issues, among others, and concurred to work closely on these issues".
Kishida expressed his intention to deepen collaboration with Singapore in maintaining and strengthening the free and open international order based on the rule of law, Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said of the meeting, which lasted about 20 minutes.
The Japanese leader also welcomed the progress in coordination to hold a meeting of experts in the digital field by the end of this year, and expressed his hope for the early conclusion of the Agreement concerning the Transfer of Defence Equipment and Technology.
He expressed his gratitude to Lee and his wife for attending the state funeral. - The Straits Times/ANN
