Short remarks

Prime Minister Kishida,

It's great to see you here at the NATO Summit once again, welcome so much.

And this is the third time you participate in the NATO Summit.

And I think that reflects the deep partnership, the close partnership between Japan and NATO.

I also very much appreciate the visit I made to Tokyo to you last year.

That was for me an important visit because we were able to further strengthen the partnership between Japan and NATO.

Japan is really one of the most capable, closest partners NATO has.

And we strongly believe that with the war in Ukraine, Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

It is even more important that we work closely together because as you have said, what happens in Ukraine today, can happen in Asia tomorrow.

And we see how North Korea, Iran and China are enabling Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.

And this demonstrates that our security is not regional, it is global.

What happens in Europe matters for you, what happens in your part of the world, matters for us.

We also therefore appreciate that we're able to further deepen our practical cooperation with the flagship projects, which we would agree at this Summit for NATO and our partners in the Indo Pacific including also Japan on support for Ukraine on cyber, artificial intelligence.

And we strongly believe that we can continue to do more together and let me also, thank you for your support to Ukraine.

When I visited Japan last year, I visited the airbase where actually a lot of the humanitarian support from Japan to Ukraine has been transported out of.

And we welcome your strong and clear messages on the importance of Russia stopping the war of aggression against Ukraine.

So once again, it's great to have you here.

We really appreciate your personal commitment to our partnership.

And it's great to have you at your third NATO Summit, so welcome again Mr Prime Minister.