Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda agreed Thursday to cooperate on a wide range of issues but left the sensitive subject of whaling effectively untouched to avoid diplomatic friction.
"Prime Minister Fukuda and I have agreed that you can have disagreements between friends," Rudd told reporters after their meeting in Tokyo. "We will be working in the period ahead diplomatically in search of a solution on this question (of whaling)."
Australia has been one of the strongest opponents of Japan's research whaling, but the two leaders avoided directly discussing their positions.