The leaders of Japan, Australia, India and the United States will agree to step up the provision of COVID-19 vaccines to the international community when they hold a summit next week, a Foreign Ministry official said Saturday.

The agreement, part of the four Indo-Pacific democracies' efforts to counter China's expanding influence in developing countries, is expected to be part of their joint statement, said the Japanese official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

During the summit to be held in Tokyo on Tuesday, the leaders will discuss how to improve COVID-19 vaccine delivery and are expected to confirm that they will push what is known as "Last One Mile Support," a Japanese initiative to provide cold chain equipment to help each country gets vaccinated, according to the official.