Mar 21 (Kyodo) - Japanese and U.S. foreign ministers on Friday agreed to closely cooperate in dealing with the coronavirus outbreak, recognizing the need to enact border controls for a certain period of time to address the global health crisis.
Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held telephone talks after the United States advised its citizens to avoid all international travel and urged those who are currently abroad to return immediately as the global number of infections continued to surge.
"To prevent the spread of the infection, it is necessary to implement appropriate border controls for a certain period of time, and it is important that Japan and the United States as well as related countries cooperate and share information on the issue," the Japanese Foreign Ministry said in a press release.
The two also agreed to share lessons learned through steps taken to contain the outbreak and to explore the possibility of jointly developing a vaccine or treatment to fight the pneumonia-causing virus.
As the foreign ministers from the Group of Seven industrialized nations are slated to hold a videoconference instead of an in-person meeting in the United States next week, Motegi and Pompeo agreed that there should be substantial discussion on the coronavirus issue and other challenges the world faces.
