Joint Press Occasion and Meeting between Prime Minister Kishida and NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg (Summary)
[Provisional Translation]
On July 11, commencing at 8:35 a.m. local time (July 11, 9:35 p.m. JST) for approximately 25 minutes, Prime Minister KISHIDA Fumio, who is visiting the United States to attend the NATO Summit, held a joint press occasion and meeting with H.E. Mr. Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The overview of the joint press occasion and the meeting is as follows.
- Joint Press Occasion
(1) Secretary General Stoltenberg expressed his appreciation for Prime Minister Kishida's attendance at the NATO Summit and stated that cooperation between the Indo-Pacific partners (IP4)(*1) and NATO has become even more important as the security environment is becoming increasingly severe.
(2) Prime Minister Kishida expressed his respect for the Secretary General Stoltenberg’s strong leadership in NATO over the past decade and his efforts to strengthen the relationship between NATO and Indo-Pacific. Prime Minister Kishida also stated as follows:
(a) The security of Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific is inseparable. I would like to affirm further enhancement of the Japan-NATO cooperation in areas such as cyber, space and joint exercises, based on the ITPP(*2). Japan hopes to conduct discussions toward solidifying the continuous relationship of cooperation between NATO and Indo-Pacific partners at the Partners Session today.
(b) Last month, Japan became the first non-Atlantic country to sign the bilateral document with Ukraine. Japan will continue to steadily support Ukraine in cooperation with NATO.
(*1) ITPP: Individually Tailored Partnership Programme
(*2) IP4: Indo-Pacific Partners (Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea)
- Meeting
(1) Both sides welcomed flagship projects between the IP4 and NATO, under the premise that the deepening of coordination between the IP4 and NATO is crucial, as the security of Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific is inseparable.
(2) Prime Minister Kishida also stated as follows:
(a) Japan will strengthen classified information sharing system with NATO.
(b) Japan plans to dispatch new personnel to the NATO Strategic Communications Centre of Excellence (NATO StratCom COE) in Latvia, and to hold a meeting on strategic communications in Japan in this fiscal year.
(c) Japan and NATO are coordinating to realize joint exercises in the Europe-Atlantic region this year, and Japan would like to continue to promote practical cooperation between the Japan Self-Defense Forces and NATO. In response, Secretary General Stoltenberg welcomed the progress of Japan-NATO cooperation and both sides concurred to further promote cooperation between Japan and NATO in these areas.
(3) The two sides also exchanged views on regional situations, including the situation in Ukraine and the situation in the Indo-Pacific, such as dealing with North Korea
