Nicholas Burns, the US undersecretary of state for political affairs, said in Paris before heading to India and then to Japan, where the two days of talks are to take place in Tokyo, that the three countries would discuss "common interests" in Asia and elsewhere.

"There will certainly be a lot of talk about Iraq and Afghanistan, where the three countries all have military forces," he told reporters at the US embassy in Paris.

Other agenda items include North Korea, the aftermath of the devastating 2004 tsunami and "our hope to work on a constructive basis with China," he said.

The Japanese foreign ministry said the talks would begin with a face-to-face between Burns and Japanese Deputy Foreign Minister Tsuneo Nishida on Sunday, with an Australian diplomatic representative joining in on Monday for a three-way dialogue.

Japanese media said other points of discussion on the first day were likely to be Japan's ban on US beef imports over mad cow disease fears and the changes to the deployment of US troops in Japan.

The talks are scheduled ahead of US President George W. Bush's visit to Japan to meet Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi in November.

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