Prime Minister Ishiba’s Remarks at the Joint Press Occasion with President Boluarte of Peru

[Opening Statement by Prime Minister Ishiba]

Hello everyone. Buenas tardes. (Good afternoon)

I am very pleased to welcome President Boluarte of Peru as she visits Japan to mark Peru’s National Day at Expo 2025, Osaka, Kansai, Japan, to be held tomorrow.

Japan and Peru are strategic partners that share fundamental values and principles and boast a friendship spanning more than 150 years. Peru is Japan's longest-standing diplomatic partner in Latin America, and our bilateral relations are supported by our deep ties with the Japanese Peruvian community, which is more than 200,000 strong.

Today, President Boluarte and I agreed to further strengthen our bilateral relations, in line with the roadmap adopted at our summit meeting last November.

People-to-people exchanges are a sturdy cornerstone of our bilateral relations. Accordingly, I have strong hopes that today's signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation in the Field of Tourism will result in more active people-to-people exchanges between our two countries in the future.

As for our economic relations, we agreed to further strengthen our cooperation across a wide range of areas, including promoting investment by Japanese companies; advancing cooperation to ensure a stable supply of minerals, as Peru is a major supplier of mineral resources; and developing infrastructure in areas such as disaster prevention and water supply.

As Japan and Peru are neighbors across the Pacific, we also agreed to further promote defense cooperation towards the realization of a Free and Open Indo-Pacific, based on the memorandum signed between our respective defense authorities last November.

At the working lunch following this press occasion, I would like to continue the candid exchange of views I have had with President Boluarte and confirm that we will further strengthen our cooperation in the international arena.

Building on the outcomes of today’s summit meeting, I will continue to work together with President Boluarte to further advance Japan-Peru relations.

Thank you.