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British Prime Minister Tony Blair met in London Saturday with visiting Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi for talks focusing on postwar Iraq.
Koizumi attended a dinner with Blair on Saturday evening shortly after his arrival, a Downing Street spokeswoman said, declining to comment on further details of the meeting between the two leaders.
There would be no press conference after the talks between Blair and Koizumi, the spokeswoman added.
The Japanese leader would leave London on Sunday to continue his week-long European tour to Spain, France, Germany and Greece, local reports said.
Earlier reports said Koizumi's European tour, due to end on May 3, was aimed at brokering reconciliation between the United States and two of the main opponents of the US-led war against Iraq, France and Germany.
However, reports quoted some analysts as saying that not much can be expected from the tour by Koizumi, who also plans to visit the United States and the Middle East.
Koizumi said Thursday that he hoped the transatlantic rift over Iraq would prove "temporary" but played down expectations that he was seeking a mediating role.
(Xinhua News Agency April 27, 2003)
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