Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Reuters Yonhap News photo
Kyodo News reported that Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida departed for Lithuania via Haneda Airport in Tokyo on the morning of the 11th to attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Summit.
Prime Minister Kishida will participate in the NATO Summit to be held in Vilnius, Lithuania on the 11th and 12th. Prior to his departure, Prime Minister Kishida met with reporters and said that he would hold individual talks with the leaders of Korea, Ukraine, Lithuania and Belgium during his 4-day, 3-night visit to Europe. Regarding the meeting with President Yoon, he emphasized, “We want to promote cooperation through close communication.”
At the Korea-Japan summit, Prime Minister Kishida is expected to explain to President Yoon the safety of contaminated water from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant, which is about to be discharged.
Prime Minister Kishida is highly likely to express his will to support Ukraine’s revival at a summit meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
In addition, Prime Minister Kishida is said to be negotiating a meeting with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in Poland, where he will be passing through for refueling before entering Lithuania.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Kishida announced that Japan and NATO will announce a new cooperation document on the occasion of the NATO Summit. Japan and NATO are planning to upgrade the existing cooperation document, the ‘International Partnership Cooperation Program’ (IPCP), to the ‘Internationally Appropriate Partnership Program’ (ITPP). The ITPP contains the contents of strengthening cooperation in countermeasures against disinformation, space, and cyber, with China and Russia in mind.
After attending the NATO summit, Prime Minister Kishida will move to Brussels, Belgium, where he will hold a summit meeting with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. Prime Minister Kishida is expected to meet with von der Leyen and share the perception that Japan and the EU continue to cooperate in various fields, including economic security.
Prime Minister Kishida said, “We must lead international cooperation, not division and confrontation,” and “I want to use it as an opportunity to confirm the adherence to a free and open international order with countries of the same mind.”
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2023-07-11 00:23:00
