Japan-Paraguay Summit Meeting (Summary)

On May 3, commencing at 5:10 p.m.(local time; 6:10 a.m.on May 4, Japan Standard Time) for approximately 60 minutes, Mr. KISHIDA Fumio, Prime Minister of Japan, during his visit to the Republic of Paraguay, held a summit meeting with H.E. Mr. Santiago PEÑA PALACIOS, President of the Republic of Paraguay. After the meeting, Prime Minister Kishida made a joint press announcement with President Peña. Prime Minister Kishida, along with Japanese business representatives accompanying him, will attend a dinner hosted by Prsident Peña. The overview of the meeting is as follows.

1. At the outset, President Peña explained the history of Paraguay and welcomed Prime Minister Kishida's first visit to Paraguay. He also expressed his desire to further strengthen bilateral relations with Japan, an important friend of Paraguay. In response, Prime Minister Kishida expressed his desire to take the friendly and cooperative relations of more than 100 years with Paraguay to new heights through this visit, as Paraguay is an important partner that shares values and principles with Japan such as freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law.

2. The two leaders exchanged views on the situation in East Asia, and confirmed that attempts to unilaterally change the status quo by force will not be tolerated and that the two countries will continue to work together to maintain and strengthen a free and open international order. The two leaders also shared the view that cooperation between the two countries is important in addressing various issues in the international arena such as disarmament, non-proliferation and UN Security Council reform.

3. President Peña expressed his appreciation for the development cooperation projects implemented by Japan over the past 60 years in a wide range of areas. In response, Prime Minister Kishida stated that Japan would like to have support from the Government of Paraguay so that Japan would be able to continue to conduct development cooperation that will lead to Paraguay's economic development and investment promotion.

4. Prime Minister Kishida also spoke of the presence of the Nikkei (Japanese immigrants and descendants) community of approximately 10,000 in Paraguay and expressed his gratitude to the Paraguayan society for its warm welcome to Nikkei over the past 88 years since the start of the migration in 1936. In response, President Peña expressed his respect for and gratitude to the Japanese imigrants for their contribution to the development and growth of Paraguay, particularly in the agricultural sector.

5. The two leaders also exchanged views on bilateral economic relations. Prime Minister Kishida stated that Japanese companies have high expectations for Paraguay, with its competitive labour force, abundant hydropower resources and other favourable investment environment, and that a lot of Japanese companies accompanied him this time to Paraguay. In response, President Peña expressed his expectations for many Japanese companies to set up and expand their businesses in Paraguay.

6. The two leaders also affirmed the importance of strengthening relations between Japan and MERCOSUR, taking into account that Paraguay is the Presidet pro-tempore country of MERCOSUR for the first half of this year, and shared the view that Japan and MERCOSUR would examine how to strengthen their economic relations in a wide range of fields, utilizing opportunities such as the "Dialogue to Strengthen the Economic Relationship between Japan and MERCOSUR."

7. The two leaders welcomed memorandums of cooperation in various fields in both the public and private sectors being signed on the occasion of Prime Minister Kishida's visit to Paraguay this time, including in the fields of information and communications as well as space, which would deepen cooperation in new fields beyond the areas of conventional development cooperation. The two leaders concurred on the further expansion of the scope of cooperation and exchanges between the two countries in the future.