[Provisional Translation]

On Monday, May 7, for about 10 minutes from 6:35 p.m., Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda held telephone talks with President-elect of the French Republic Francois Hollande. The overview of the conversation is as follows.

1. At the start, Prime Minister Noda congratulated President-elect Hollande on winning the presidential election, and touched upon the message delivered by Mr. Laurent Fabius, Former Prime Minister of the French Republic, who came to Japan as a personal envoy of Mr. Hollande when he was still a candidate in February. Prime Minister Noda further stated that he hoped the two leaders could work together to strengthen renewed Japan-France relations. In response, President-elect Hollande expressed his feelings of gratitude for the remarks, and said that he also hoped to further develop Japan-France relations with Prime Minister Noda.
   
   
2. In addition to the above, Prime Minister Noda stated that Japan and France had a strategic partnership sharing basic values and interests, and remarked that he wished to collaborate closely on numerous international issues, including the Iranian and North Korean nuclear issues, the European debt crisis and the start of negotiations toward a Japan-European Union (EU) Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA). In response, President-elect Hollande commented that the situation was exactly as Prime Minister Noda had said and that he also hoped to jointly implement initiatives for a variety of international issues.
   
   
3. At the end of the conversation, Prime Minister Noda stated that he was looking forward to seeing President-elect Hollande at the G8 Summit this month, and said that he would like President-elect Hollande to visit Japan at an early time. President-elect Hollande replied that he was also looking forward to seeing Prime Minister Noda on various occasions.