Tokyo  - Japan and Australia agreed on Thursday to strengthen cooperation to build a framework to fight global warming.

Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and his Australian counterpart Kevin Rudd issued a joint statement after their first summit meeting in Tokyo.

The two leaders agreed on the effectiveness of the sector-based approach to fight global warming, which measures carbon dioxide reductions by industry.

Rudd expressed his support for a Japanese proposal to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 and agreed with Fukuda to promote an effective framework after Kyoto Protocol expires in 2012.

During the summit, the prime ministers also discussed Japan's scientific research whaling, which Australia has strongly criticized.

Rudd said that disagreement over Japan's whaling would not damage the bilateral relationship.

"On whaling, Prime Minister Fukuda and I agreed that you can have disagreements between friends," Australian premier said.

"We've also agreed that this disagreement should not undermine in any way the strength and positive nature of our overall bilateral relationship and we will be working in the period ahead diplomatically in search of the solution on this question," he added.

But the two nations were expected to continue discussions on the whaling issue, while Australia hopes to seek resolution through a diplomatic channel.

The two nations also plan a second round of ministerial talks in Australian capital Canberra early November on security issues.

Rudd was expected to depart Tokyo for Jakarta late Thursday after a five-day visit in Japan. (dpa)