New Japanese FM to visit Phl

MANILA, Philippines - Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida will be in Manila Wednesday and Thursday for an official visit, the Department of Foreign Affairs said Tuesday.

The DFA added that Kishida's Manila trip is his first overseas trip since his appointment as Foreign Minister by Japan’s newly-elected Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on December 26, 2012.

Kishida will meet with Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert F. del Rosario to discuss bilateral relations as well as regional issues and the foreign policy priorities of the new Japanese leadership.

Kishida is also scheduled to pay a courtesy call on President Benigno S. Aquino III.

"The visit is an opportunity for both countries to advance the Philippines-Japan Strategic Partnership under the new Japanese administration. Japan is one of only two strategic partners of the Philippines and is one of the most important economic partners in terms of trade, investments and development assistance," the DFA said.

Both the Philippines and Japan are involved in a territorial dispute with China, now the second's world-largest and the region's largest economy.

Diplomatic relations between the Tokyo and Manila were established in 1956.