TOKYO, March 30 (Reuters) - Japan and the U.S. will

announce closer cooperation in high-tech areas such as

artificial intelligence (AI) in a joint statement when Prime

Minister Fumio Kishida meets with President Joe Biden next

month, the Asahi Shimbun newspaper said on Saturday.

Biden is set to host Kishida for an official visit to the

U.S. on April 10.

Calling ties between the two allies a "global partnership",

the joint statement will advocate stronger cooperation in AI and

semiconductors, Asahi said without citing its sources.

As part of the agreement, Japan and the U.S. will likely set

up a framework for AI research and development, working with

Nvidia ( NVDA ), Arm and Amazon ( AMZN ), among others,

the newspaper said.

The U.S. has moved aggressively in recent months to halt

shipments of advanced AI chips to China, in its efforts to stop

Beijing from getting cutting-edge U.S. technology that could

strengthen its military.