Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi is planning an April 29-May 5 trip that will take in Ethiopia, Ghana and Sweden in a bid to reinforce Japan's relations with Africa and discuss the Scandinavian nation's successful social welfare system, the government said Wednesday.
The trip will be the first official visit by a Japanese prime minister to those three countries.
The government is making arrangements for Koizumi to meet with his counterparts -- Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi, Ghanaian President John Kufuor and Swedish Prime Minister Goran Persson -- during the trip.