On January 9, Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, held a telephone conversation with Mr. Francois Hollande, President of the French Republic, for approximately 15 minutes from 4:55 P.M. An overview of the conversation is as follows:

1. President Hollande began by congratulating Prime Minister Abe on his inauguration as the Prime Minister and stated that he would like to make the Japan-France relationship, which is already in a good condition, an even better one.
   
   
2. In response to this, Prime Minister Abe stated that Japan and France are important strategic partners who share basic values such as freedom, democracy, rule of law, and market economy, and would like to advance policy coordination with President Hollande, who has expressed his intention to emphasize Japan, on various issues concerning international society. Then, Prime Minister Abe mentioned the following three points:
   
   (1) Prime Minister Abe would like to invite President Hollande to Japan in the near future and to devise a leaders' statement for determining policies on a new cooperative relationship between Japan and France.
   
   (2) Prime Minister Abe would like to deepen mutual understanding and coordinate with France on how to deal with the changes in the strategic environment in the Asia-Pacific region, which has a strong interest in the security environment in Asia centering on the ocean.
   
   (3) Prime Minister Abe expressed strong expectation of the role to be played by France in the United Nations (UN) Security Council, since North Korea's recent launching of a missile was highly regrettable and a clear violation of the UN Security Council Resolution. Prime Minister Abe also asked for the continued understanding and cooperation of France concerning the abduction of Japanese nationals by North Korea.
   
   
3. In response, President Hollande stated that he was looking forward to visiting Japan and seeing Prime Minister Abe. President Hollande also stated that he hoped that Japan would place its trust in France concerning the issue of North Korea's launching of a missile.
   
   
4. Moreover, both leaders shared views on further strengthening the bilateral relationship between Japan and France centering on politics and security, economy, and culture.