Japan-Australia Leaders' meeting (Summary)

On September 9, commencing at 3:10 p.m. (local time; 6:40 p.m. on September 9 JST) for approximately 20 minutes, Mr. KISHIDA Fumio, Prime Minister of Japan, who is visiting New Delhi, India, to attend the G20 Summit, held a leaders’ meeting with the Hon. Anthony Albanese, MP, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia. The overview of the meeting is as follows.

1. At the outset, Prime Minister Kishida commended the steady progress of cooperation under the “Special Strategic Partnership” between Japan and Australia, and expressed his intention to make further progress in cooperation to realize “Free and Open Indo-Pacific”.
2. In his opening remarks, Prime Minister Albanese commended Japan’s efforts regarding the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Station as being made in a responsible manner in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and the measures that Japan has taken in this respect. Prime Minister Kishida expressed his gratitude for Australia’s responses to date, including its statement to welcome the IAEA Comprehensive Report. The two leaders further discussed Japan’s efforts on the ALPS treated water.
3. The two leaders welcomed progress in defence cooperation, including the joint exercises involving F-35 fighter jets visiting each country under the Japan-Australia Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA) that entered into force last month. The leaders concurred on strengthening concrete cooperation, guided by the new Japan-Australia Joint Declaration on Security Cooperation signed last year.
4. The two leaders reiterated the importance of Japan-Australia cooperation in the resources and energy, and confirmed that both countries will continue to engage in close dialogues. In particular, the leaders concurred to work together on decarbonizasion in Asia through the “Asia Zero Emissions Community” (AZEC) initiative and cooperation in hydrogen and ammonia sectors.
5. The two leaders discussed North Korea’s nuclear and missile issues as well as the abductions issue.