Foreign Minister Makiko Tanaka said Thursday she will set up a panel of foreign policy experts next week to help her draw up policies.
"The group will be established to exchange opinions with people from various sectors on overall foreign policy," Tanaka told reporters. The minister said her group will operate independently from a similar panel to be set up under Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi, but added she hopes the two can cooperate.
"I think it would be good if the two can interact with each other so that the exchange of opinions will be carried out within the Cabinet," she said.
Tanaka did not announce the members of the new panel. Koizumi's panel will be chaired by Yukio Okamoto, a former diplomat who was special adviser on Okinawan affairs to former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto.