French President Francois Hollande and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe agreed Friday to deepen cooperation on developing and exporting nuclear power plant technologies, and to strengthen security ties.

In a joint statement following their summit in Tokyo, the two leaders agreed to arrange talks between their foreign and defense ministers, commonly known as two-plus-two talks, to discuss joint development of defense equipment as well as exporting such items overseas.

Through such talks, Japan aims to stop France from exporting dual-use items to China that could improve the Chinese military's capabilities.