国賓訪米へ出発、１０日首脳会談　岸田首相「国際社会リード」

　岸田文雄首相は８日夕、バイデン米大統領との日米首脳会談などに臨むため羽田発の政府専用機で米ワシントンに向けて出発した。首脳会談や米議会での演説を通じ、強固な日米同盟を内外にアピールしたい考えだ。
　首相は８日、首相官邸で記者団に「国際社会が複雑で多様な課題を抱え、日本を巡る安全保障環境が厳しさを増す中、日米同盟の重要性は一層高まっている」と指摘。「日米がグローバルなパートナー、国際社会の課題（解決）を共にリードする存在だと確認したい。それを世界に発信する重要な機会だ」と語った。（2024/04/08-17:53）

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida departed from Tokyo's Haneda Airport aboard a government plane on Monday for the first state visit to the United States by a Japanese leader since then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's 2015 visit.
   Kishida is scheduled to attend a summit meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden at the White House on Wednesday and address a joint session of the U.S. Congress on Thursday.
   Through these events, Kishida apparently hopes to demonstrate the strength of the Japan-U.S. alliance at home and abroad.
   "The Japan-U.S. alliance is becoming more important as the international community deals with complex and diverse issues and Japan faces an increasingly severe security environment," Kishida told reporters at the prime minister's office earlier on Monday.
   "I want to confirm that Japan and the United States are global partners that will lead (efforts to solve) challenges in the international community together," he said. "It is an important opportunity to send that message to the world."