Japan Prime Minister Ishiba will consider visiting US to meet president-elect, says Yomiuri

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba plans to consider visiting the United States to meet the president-elect before his inauguration in January next year, the Yomiuri newspaper reported on Sunday.

“As prime minister of Japan, an ally of the US, it is necessary for me to have a relationship (with the president-elect) before I officially take office in January next year,” he said, according to Yomiuri, in an interview held on Saturday .

The prime minister also said he “will not deny the possibility” of visiting the US before or after his planned visits to South America in the middle of next month, the Yomiuri said.

If that happens, it would be Ishiba’s first visit to the US since taking over as prime minister.

The prime minister is expected to attend the APEC summit in Peru and the G20 summit in Brazil in November, the report said.

The US presidential election, which pits Democrat Kamala Harris against Republican Donald Trump, will be held on November 5.

(Reporting by Kaori Kaneko in Tokyo; Editing by Matthew Lewis)