The ruling Liberal Democratic Party and New Komeito agreed Friday to form a basic agreement on five key policy areas by the end of the month, taking another step toward a tripartite alliance, officials of the two parties said.
Yukihiko Ikeda, LDP policy affairs chief, met with his New Komeito counterpart, Chikara Sakaguchi, at the Diet building to launch policy talks toward the alliance.
The LDP and its junior coalition partner, the Liberal Party, had agreed with New Komeito earlier to form a tripartite coalition if they could agree on policy.