Japan's defence minister will head to Pakistan next week at the same time as a major visit by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to its neighbour and rival India.
TOKYO: Japan's defence minister will head to Pakistan next week at the same time as a major visit by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to its neighbour and rival India, an official said on Thursday.
Abe, a conservative who seeks a greater military role for Japan, has long championed nurturing ties with India to balance Tokyo's frequent tensions with China.
At the same time as his visit there, Defence Minister Yuriko Koike will fly to Pakistan as "a special envoy of the prime minister," according to a defence ministry spokesman.
She will hold talks in Islamabad on Wednesday with Pakistani Defence Minister Rao Sikandar Iqbal, the spokesman said. Japanese media reports said she was also expected to meet with President Pervez Musharraf.
Koike will visit New Delhi on the heels of Abe but has no joint schedule with him. She will meet Friday with her Indian counterpart A K Antony, the spokesman said.
Abe's visit to India is part of a week-long tour starting Sunday that will also take him to Indonesia and Malaysia.
His predecessor, Junichiro Koizumi, visited both India and Pakistan in 2005 on the last trip by a Japanese premier to South Asia.
Abe will try to boost commercial ties with India, which have languished behind Japan's intense political interest in New Delhi.
Japan has announced a plan to invest billions of dollars in India's growing economy, including helping build a high-speed rail network between New Delhi and Mumbai, the country's two largest cities.
Japan exchanged notes with India Tuesday to extend low-interest loans of up to 39.56 billion yen (USD340 million) for two infrastructure projects, the foreign ministry said.
The projects are to supply power in the western state of Maharashtra, which includes Mumbai, and to provide water in the neighbouring state of Goa.
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