Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meets the leaders of four ex-communist European countries on Sunday at a regional summit in Warsaw, where he is expected to promote the country's nuclear technologies. On his first trip to Europe since taking over as premier in December, Abe will attend the meeting of the so-called Visegrad Group: the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia. Then he will head to Northern Ireland where the G8 summit begins Monday.

Japan's cabinet on Friday rubber-stamped a package of government reforms aimed at rebooting the economy, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe readied to explain the measures to fellow G8 leaders. In a video message posted on his official website, the premier repeated pledges that he would make a tangible difference to Japan's prospects after years of disappointing growth and debilitating deflation. "I will restore a strong economy. I pledge to increase the per-capita gross national income by no less than 1.5 million yen ($15,000) over the next ten years," he said.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit Poland, Britain and Ireland from Saturday as he aims to win understanding of his economic policies while promoting Japanese exports, the government said Tuesday. Abe will join other Group of Eight leaders for a summit in Northern Ireland on June 17 and 18, where he will brief them on his economic policies, dubbed "Abenomics," aimed at overcoming Japan's chronic deflation, amid criticism in some countries that the yen's exchange rate is being targeted to accelerate exports.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday the government will draw up tax reform plans in fall as part of efforts to boost Japan's economic growth, bringing forward the schedule of the annual reforms. "We will decide (on the reforms) in fall for this year," Abe said in a speech delivered at a World Economic Forum meeting in Tokyo, while referring to the need for tax breaks for companies to boost capital spending.