TOKYO (AP) — Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday that he will stress the need for a rules-based international order in the face of global challenges and tensions when he attends a meeting of the Organizations for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris.
Kishida began a six-day trip abroad in Paris, where he is scheduled to give a keynote speech on Thursday, the first of a two-day OECD ministerial meeting, which will be chaired by Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa.
“I would like to stress that Japan will take a leading role in creating and strengthening a free, fair and rules-based international economic order,” Kishida told reporters at Tokyo’s Haneda international airport.
Kishida said he also plans to step up an effort to support emerging countries, especially those in the Indo-Pacific region, to join the OECD, whose 38 member nations are mostly developed Western economies. Japan and South Korea are the only two East Asia members, and both Indonesia and Thailand want to join the OECD.