Meeting between Prime Minister Kishida and NATO Secretary General Stoltenberg (Summary)
On September 23, commencing at 3:10 p.m. local time (at 4:10 a.m. on September 24, JST), for approximately 20 minutes, Mr. KISHIDA Fumio, Prime Minister of Japan, who was visiting New York to attend the United Nations General Assembly, held a meeting with H.E. Mr. Jens Stoltenberg, Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). The overview of the meeting is as follows.
Prime Minister Kishida stated that it is largely Secretary General Stoltenberg's achievement that the recognition of "the security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific is inseparable" has been widely shared, and thus the cooperation between Indo-Pacific partners (IP4), including Japan, and NATO have been enhanced. He also expressed respect to ten years of Mr. Stoltenberg's leadership as the Secretary General of NATO. In response, Secretary General Stoltenberg stated that Prime Minister Kishida’s participation in the NATO Summit for three consecutive times showed his commitment to strengthening the relationship with NATO, and expressed gratitude to Prime Minister Kishida for strengthening the relationship between Japan and NATO together with Prime Minister Kishida. Furthermore, Secretary General Stoltenberg expressed gratitude for Japan’s support to Ukraine, by quoting Prime Minister Kishida’s statement, “Ukraine today may be East Asia tomorrow.”
Both leaders concurred on the growing importance of cooperation between NATO and IP4 including Japan as the current security environment has become severer, and on continuous cooperation for further development of the Japan-NATO relationship under new leadership.
Furthermore, both leaders also exchanged views on regional situations such as the situations of Ukraine and the Indo-Pacific.
