Australia ? Australian Prime Minister John Howard and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will sign a joint security declaration when Howard visits Japan today, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said Friday in an interview with The Yomiuri Shimbun.

The joint security declaration will include the implementation of joint exercises between the Self-Defense Forces and Australian forces for disaster relief and U.N. peacekeeping operations, Downer said at his local office in Adelaide.

For Japan, this will be the second security agreement of its kind, the other being the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty.