Prospective Prime Minister Fumio Kishida plans to attend the Oct. 30 to 31 summit of the Group of 20 major economies in Rome, a government source said Sunday.
Kishida, however, is considering skipping U.N. climate change talks starting Oct. 31 in Glasgow, Scotland, the source said.
The new leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, who is set to be elected prime minister at the start of an extraordinary session of parliament on Monday, is expected to arrange bilateral talks with U.S. President Joe Biden and other world leaders on the sidelines of the G20 summit.
His planned trip to the Italian capital could affect the dates of the official start of campaigning for a general election and voting.
Kishida plans to dissolve the House of Representatives on Oct. 14 for the election, and government and ruling party sources have speculated that campaigning for the election would start Oct. 26 with voting and ballot counting on Nov. 7.
If that is the case, it would be unusual for a prime minister to travel abroad immediately after the start of an election campaign.
The sources also suspect campaigning could alternatively start Nov. 2 with voting on Nov. 14, so that Kishida's trip to Italy would not coincide with the campaign period.