Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said Monday that his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida will be in Perth in about two weeks to hold talks with him.
A Japanese official said Kishida is planning to make a three-day trip to Australia from Oct. 21, and the meeting between the two leaders is expected to take place the following day.
"Rather than bringing the prime minister of Japan to Canberra or Melbourne, taking him to Perth, and he's very happy with that," Albanese was quoted by his office as telling a Nova FM Perth program. "So, that will be important. Japan's very important for the Western Australian economy."
Perth is the capital of the state of Western Australia, from which Japan imports tons of natural gas, iron ore and wheat used to make udon noodles.
Last week, a Japanese government source said Kishida is likely to visit Australia in late October and confirm cooperation toward the realization of a free and open Indo-Pacific with Albanese, who took office in May.
Japan and Australia are part of "the Quad," a four-way security framework that also includes India and the United States, with China's growing assertiveness in the region being one of their most pressing issues.
Kishida had planned to visit Australia in January, but the trip was canceled due to a spike in COVID-19 infections in Japan at the time.
Albanese visited Japan in May for a Quad summit. Late last month, he also traveled to Tokyo to attend the state funeral for former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who was gunned down during an election campaign speech in July.
During their latest meeting, Kishida and Albanese agreed to further deepen security ties between Japan and Australia.