The head of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization will arrive in Japan on Monday. He is expected to discuss strengthening bilateral ties amid growing collaboration between Russia and China.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will meet Prime Minister Kishida Fumio and other officials during his three-day visit to Japan.

Stoltenberg is expected to exchange opinions to reinforce cooperation between NATO and democracies in the Indo-Pacific region, including Japan.

Russia and China are deepening their collaboration against the backdrop of Moscow's invasion of Ukraine and Beijing's military buildup.

Kishida attended a NATO summit in Spain last June, becoming the first Japanese prime minister to do so.

NATO, the world's largest military alliance of 30 nations, used the meeting to adopt a document called the Strategic Concept. It reads: "The Indo-Pacific is important for NATO, given that developments in that region can directly affect Euro-Atlantic security."

A senior official of the United States, one of NATO's leading members, told NHK that Stoltenberg's "visit will continue the work of addressing the range of shared cross-regional challenges and security interests."