Japan's foreign minister will visit the United States, Russia and Egypt on an eight-day trip starting this weekend, the ministry announced Thursday. Taro Aso leaves Tokyo on Saturday for a five-day visit to Washington, D.C., where he is slated to meet his U.S. counterpart Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, the ministry said in a statement. The two are expected to discuss bilateral relations as well as the current situations in East Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere when they meet Monday, it said. Aso's trip to the U.S. will follow the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who left Thursday for a summit with President George W. Bush. Aso is also scheduled to attend an event sponsored by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the statement said. Arrangements are also being made for him to meet with members of the U.S. Congress, it said. On Tuesday, Aso and Rice will be joined by their countries' respective defense chiefs for the so-called «two plus two» security meeting, the statement said. The realignment and reduction of the 50,000 U.S. troops stationed in Japan and collaboration on missile defense are among the topics they are expected to discuss, it said. Aso heads next to Russia on Thursday for a one-day visit, during which he will meet Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Security Council chief Igor Ivanov, it said. The officials are expected to discuss a long-running bilateral territorial dispute and various international issues, it said. The foreign minister's trip concludes in Egypt, where he will attend the second day of a key two-day U.S.-backed summit on stabilizing Iraq at the Sharm el-Sheik resort on Friday, it said. He returns to Japan on Sunday, the Associated Press reported.
