Japan PM calls for partnership with EU

TOKYO: Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, meeting leaders of the European Union, called Wednesday for cooperation to weather a global economic slowdown and fight the spread of nuclear weapons. Fukuda held an annual summit with the European Union, meeting with Prime Minister Janez Jansa of Slovenia, the 27-nation bloc's current president, before being joined by European Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso. "I hope Japan and the EU will further strengthen their strategic partnership for the sake of peace in the international community," Fukuda said at the beginning of the meeting with Jansa.

"I want to achieve success in this summit by promoting cooperation on major global issues such as the world economy and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons," he said. The meeting comes ahead of Fukuda's hosting in July of the annual summit of the Group of Eight rich nations. A Japanese government official earlier said that Fukuda would talk with EU leaders about climate change, which is set to be a major topic at the G8 summit.

The European Union has championed tougher obligations than Japan in ongoing negotiations to come up with a post-Kyoto Protocol treaty on fighting greenhouse gas emissions blamed for global warming. Fukuda and the Europeans are also expected to discuss assistance to Africa as Japan will host its fourth summit of African leaders in May -- the so-called Tokyo International Conference on African Development. The EU delegation will head afterwards to Beijing where Barroso is set to discuss a growing row over China's controversial rule in Tibet.