KYOTO, Japan  -- Top diplomats of Japan, the United States and Australia undertook Friday to work in close strategic partnership to boost stability and security in the Asia- Pacific region as well as the world at large.

The decision was unveiled in a joint statement released after Masahiko Komura, Stephen Smith, foreign ministers of Japan, Australia respectively, and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice held talks at the third ministerial meeting of the Trilateral Strategic Dialogue Friday, following the conclusion of the G8 foreign ministers meeting.

During the talks, the three ministers underscored the importance of promoting trilateral cooperation to ensure peace and prosperity in the Asia-Pacific region as it is faced with a wide range of challenges, including the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism, and natural disasters.

Noting that their cooperation should be forward-looking and responsive to emerging security issues, the three nations vowed to further strengthen trilateral initiatives in various areas, including humanitarian assistance and disaster relief as well as counter-terrorism, security and defense cooperation.

With distinguished performance in response to natural disasters and other humanitarian emergencies, Japan, the United States and Australia highlighted strengthened cooperation on disaster management and emergency response.

In addition to developing arrangements to exchange information to ensure the best use of assets and other resources in responding to humanitarian emergencies, the ministers instructed relevant officials to formulate guidelines to expedite the trilateral cooperation and information-sharing on humanitarian assistance and disaster relief.

On counter-terrorism, the top diplomats put emphasis on efforts to tackle the threat of chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear terrorism, to sever terrorist financing and to mitigate and counter radicalization.

They also affirmed the commitment to practical security and defense cooperation in holding air mobility seminars, and participating in humanitarian activities by U.S, medical ships and Proliferation Security Initiative exercises.

Rice arrived in Kyoto on Thursday to attend the G8 foreign ministers meeting, which opened later in the day.

The two-day meeting was the last of a series of ministerial conferences held in the run-up to the G8 summit scheduled for July 7-9 at the Toyako (Lake Toya) resort area in Hakkaido.