Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his Spanish counterpart, Pedro Sanchez, agreed Tuesday to boost their countries' economic and security cooperation as the two nations mark the 150th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic ties this year.
During their summit talks in Madrid, Abe said the two countries "will closely work together to deal with a wide variety of challenges the international community faces, in addition to bilateral cooperation."
Spain is the first stop on Abe's European tour, which will also take him to France for a bilateral summit and Brussels for the two-day Asia-Europe Meeting starting Thursday.