Brussels, July 13 (EFE).- The European Union (EU) and Japan agreed on Thursday to establish a structured mechanism of strategic dialog to further security ties and address challenges to global peace and economy arising from Russia and China.
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida met with European Council President Charles Michel and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the 29th EU-Japan summit in Brussels.
The summit came a day after Kishida attended a NATO summit in Lithuania, which von der Leyen described as a “clear message of partnership and friendship.”
In a joint statement after the summit, the two sides announced their agreement to establish a strategic dialog at the foreign ministerial level and further develop their security partnership.
Von der Leyen told reporters that the structured mechanism would help “coordinate on these unprecedented challenges to peace and security.”
“And this includes, of course, the vital topic of economic security,” the European Commission president said in the joint presser with Kishida and Michel. “We have a lot to gain by working together on this topic.”
Von der Leyen emphasized that the EU shared “with Japan the analysis that from Ukraine to the Indo-Pacific, the world is one security theater.”
The joint statement stressed that security of Europe and the Indo-Pacific was closely interlinked.
“We remain resolute in our support to Ukraine and our opposition to Russia’s brutal, unprovoked and illegal war of aggression,” said the statement.
Von der Leyen said the EU and Japan support Ukraine as they did since the beginning of the Russian invasion of the European country.
“At the same time, with our Indo-Pacific strategy, we are also increasing our engagement in the region,” she said. “We know that Indo-Pacific and European security are indivisible.”
The statement condemned the alleged continued defiance of the UN Security Council resolutions by North Korea. “We seek peace and stability throughout the Indo-Pacific.”
The two sides opposed any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion anywhere in the world, reaffirming that the acquisition of territory by force is prohibited.
Kishida noted that the strategic dialog would help “further deepen” cooperation in economic security.
The EU and Japan also agreed to strengthen their work on ecological and digital transformations.
The EU and Japan signed a memorandum of cooperation to support safe, resilient, and sustainable submarine connectivity.
They also signed a memorandum on semiconductors and an administrative agreement to strengthen cooperation in critical raw material supply chains.
“We share similar dependencies. We both see the need to de-risk our supply chains,” said von der Leyen.
She said one of the objects was to “reduce over-reliance on a handful of suppliers, many of them based in China, for product that are vital to our economies, for instance critical raw materials.”
The EU and Japan also reaffirmed their commitment to the “full and effective implementation” of their trade and investment relations for the benefit of citizens and the business community in their 29th summit.
They agreed on timelines for approving beef export requests from EU member states and for mutual recognition of the principle of regionalization for highly pathogenic avian influenza.
They also committed to accelerating negotiations on data flows to conclude them this year.
“We are closer than ever,” said Von der Leyen. EFE
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