Japan’s Kishida will stress rules-based global order, support for new emerging nations at OECD meeting

TOKYO — Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday that he will stress the need for a rules-based international order in the face of global challenges and tensions when he attends a meeting of the Organizations for Economic Cooperation and Development in Paris.

Kishida began a six-day trip abroad in Paris, where he is scheduled to give a keynote speech on Thursday, the first of a two-day OECD ministerial meeting, which will be chaired by Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa.

“I would like to stress that Japan will take a leading role in creating and strengthening a free, fair and rules-based international economic order,” Kishida told reporters at Tokyo’s Haneda international airport.

Kishida said he also plans to step up an effort to support emerging countries, especially those in the Indo-Pacific region, to join the OECD, whose 38 member nations are mostly developed Western economies. Japan and South Korea are the only two East Asia members, and both Indonesia and Thailand want to join the OECD.

Kishida is also expected to propose a multinational framework to discuss the development and use of AI and its spread of disinformation.

This year also marks the 60th anniversary of Japan’s joining of the OECD.

Kishida will also visit Brazil and Paraguay, as Japan seeks to deepen relations with emerging and developing nations that Tokyo considers share common values and democratic principles.

Brazil chairs the Group of 20 industrialized and emerging-market nations.

Kishida said he hopes to discuss cooperation in economy, space, information and communication between Japan and Paraguay when he hold talks with Paraguayan President Santiago Pena.

Kishida said he is also bringing a 170-member business mission that includes executives from 50 companies to the two South American nations.

AP photo Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida speaks to reporters at his office in Tokyo Tuesday, April 30, 2024. Kishida acknowledged Tuesday that his governing party’s major defeat in the weekend’s by-elections was due to a slush fund scandal, but said he would not step down or replace party executives to take responsibility.