Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said Friday he will pay a visit to Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia next week.

Aso will be the first Japanese foreign minister to these countries in more than 10 years. He told a news conference that he is visiting the four nations as part of the diplomatic initiative to promote relations with emerging economies in Asia and Europe. Aso is expected to enhance economic cooperation between Japan and the four countries during the week-long visit starting Tuesday. Aso is scheduled to meet his counterparts and pay courtesy calls on some leaders of the countries.

As Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary and Slovakia have diplomatic relations with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), Japan is also expected to gather support from them in regard to the Korean Peninsula nuclear issue.

Bulgaria has strong ties with the DPRK, and it is expected that Japan will reiterate its position on the issue and reach understanding over the situation of the Korean Peninsula, Japanese foreign ministry officials said at a briefing.

According to the officials, Japan's top-level visits to the four countries were far-between. The latest visit by a Japanese foreign minister was to Hungary in 1995.

Source: Xinhua