Prime Minister Ishiba’s Remarks at the Joint Press Occasion with NATO Secretary General Rutte

I am very pleased to welcome NATO Secretary General Rutte to Japan today. In recent years, cooperation between Japan and NATO has progressed rapidly. We have fundamentally strengthened our information sharing framework while also augmenting our reciprocal participation in training exercises. In addition, in January of this year, Japan’s first dedicated ambassador to NATO assumed his post. We see great future potential for defense industry cooperation as well. These deepening relations between Japan and NATO reflect the reality that the security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions is inseparable, and that as a result, there is a growing need for trans-regional security cooperation.

Today, Secretary General Rutte and I held a candid exchange of views on Russia's aggression against Ukraine and the situation in the Indo-Pacific. We also reaffirmed our commitment to cooperate towards maintaining and strengthening a Free and Open Indo-Pacific based on the rule of law. We agreed to issue a joint statement confirming that the Japan-NATO partnership is strategically important for both the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific regions. The "strong NATO" that Secretary General Rutte advocates will be of great benefit to Japan as well. We welcome a strong NATO’s further engagement in the Indo-Pacific. Moving forward, we intend to strengthen coordination with Secretary General Rutte to elevate to new heights NATO's cooperation with both Japan and its Indo-Pacific partners. This concludes my remarks.