Ryutaro Hashimoto, state minister in charge of administrative reform, announced Tuesday that he will make a six-day trip to Switzerland, Turkey and France beginning Monday.
Hashimoto said he will give a lecture at the Global Aging Initiative policy summit in Zurich, Switzerland, on Tuesday. The summit is to be attended by key government officials and private-sector leaders from Japan, the United States and Europe.
Hashimoto will head to Ankara next Wednesday to meet with Turkish Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit and other Turkish officials.
He will leave Istanbul on Jan. 26 for Paris, where he is expected to meet with French President Jacques Chirac and other French officials. Hashimoto is set to return home the same day before arriving in Tokyo on Jan. 27.