Tokyo - National Assembly Speaker Urška Klakočar Zupančič is paying a visit to Japan until Thursday, as part of which she attended on Tuesday the funeral of Shinzo Abe, the ex-Japanese prime minister who was assassinated in early July. As head of the Slovenian delegation in Tokyo, she laid flowers in Shinzo's memory.

Slovenian former PM Miro Cerar also attended the service as the Japanese government invited all former heads of state who had met with Abe in the past. Cerar met him in 2016 during his visit to Japan.

After the funeral, Klakočar Zupančič went to a reception hosted by Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, where she also met with Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi and Abe's widow Akio Abe, the National Assembly said in a statement.

On the sidelines of the visit, she met with Estonian counterpart Jüri Ratas to discuss Russia's aggression against Ukraine, rising energy prices, e-government and other topical political and economic issues.

Until Thursday, the parliamentary speaker is scheduled to have several more bilateral meetings, including with her Japanese counterpart Hiroyuki Hosoda.