Japan and Lithuania have decided to upgrade bilateral ties and start up security dialogue, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Wednesday.
"Japan and Lithuania are important partners that share basic values such as freedom, human rights and the rule of law," Kishida told a joint news conference in Tokyo with his Lithuanian counterpart Ingrida Simonyte.
"I'm glad we can upgrade our ties to strategic partnership at the time of Prime Minister Simonyte's Japan visit ... In valuing the fact that Lithuania is conducting its diplomacy in a resolute matter, we also decided to start up security dialogue."
(Reporting by Kiyoshi Takenaka; Editing by Andrew Heavens)
