[Provisional Translation]

On June 19, Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, and Mrs. Akie Abe made a courtesy call on Dr. Michael D. Higgins, President of Ireland, and Mrs. Sabina Higgins in Dublin from 10:55 a.m. to 11:20 a.m. (local time). An overview of the meeting is as follows:

1.Opening Remarks

(1) President Higgins welcomed Prime Minister Abe’s visit to Ireland, which marked the first-ever official visit by an incumbent Japanese Prime Minister, and stated that President Higgins had served as a Minister of Culture in the 1990s and had been strongly impressed by the Japanese researchers who conducted very high-quality studies of Irish literary figures.

(2) In response to this, Prime Minister Abe stated that it was his honor that he became the first-ever incumbent Japanese Prime Minister who made his official visit to Ireland and at the same time expressed his gratitude for the heartfelt sympathy and public donations sent from Ireland in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

2.Bilateral relations

(1) Prime Minister Abe stated the following two issues.

A. Prime Minister Abe expressed his respect to Ireland’s persistent efforts for peace in Northern Ireland together with the United Kingdom and to financial and structural reforms that Ireland had achieved in the wake of the European debt crisis.

B. Prime Minister Abe stated that he would like to cooperate with Ireland, which share common values, and are moving toward the same goal of revitalization of the economy.

(2) In response to the above, President Higgins stated that he was strongly interested in Prime Minister Abe’s economic policy as it suggests new paradigm. Then, Prime Minister Abe explained his economic policy, the “three arrows,” and pointed out that the policy had already produced results. In response to this, President Higgins mentioned that there is a greater possibility of cooperation between Japan and Ireland and agreed to strengthen cooperative relations between the countries sharing common values.

(3) Moreover, both leaders referred to recent active mutual visits of senior officials and the launch of negotiations for the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) during Ireland’s Presidency of the EU, and shared views that both countries should cooperate with each other to further promote bilateral relations as well as Japan-EU relations in the future.