AKIPRESS.COM - The Japanese government on Friday adopted a plan for Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako to visit Mongolia as state guests on July 6-13, JiJi Press reportedjavascript:mctmp(0);.

They will be the first reigning Emperor and Empress to visit Mongolia. The Emperor visited the country in 2007 when he was Crown Prince.

The schedule of the upcoming trip was decided at a cabinet meeting.

According to the Imperial Household Agency, the Emperor and Empress will leave Tokyo's Haneda Airport aboard a government plane on July 6 and arrive in Ulaanbaatar, the capital of Mongolia, the same day.

On July 8, the couple will attend a welcome ceremony and a meeting with Mongolian President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh and his wife. At a banquet hosted by the president and his wife, the Emperor will deliver a speech.

The Imperial couple will offer flowers at the cenotaph for some 1,700 Japanese who were detained by the former Soviet Union after World War II and died in Mongolia. On July 11, they will attend the opening ceremony of Naadam, Mongolia's biggest festival.