Japan-EU Relations
Japan-EU Leaders Telephone Talk
On September 22, commencing at around 5:45 p.m. for approximately 15 minutes, H.E. Mr. SUGA Yoshihide, Prime Minister of Japan, held a telephone talk with H.E. Mr. Charles Michel, President of the European Council. The overview of the talk is as follows.
1. Prime Minister Suga stated that the Japan-EU relationship has been strengthened more than ever under the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA) and expressed his desire to further expand the cordial bilateral relations in cooperation with Mr. Michel. In response, Mr. Michel stated that he was also looking forward to working closely with Prime Minister Suga to take the current strong bilateral relationship to a higher level.
2. Looking ahead to suppression of COVID-19, Prime Minister Suga stated his willingness to deepen the cooperation with the EU for the stability and prosperity of the international community as a whole, especially for realizing the “Free and Open Indo-Pacific”. In this context, the two leaders agreed to work together closely with respect to international situations including on East Asia.
3. The two leaders shared the view to deepen the discussions for further cooperation in various areas such as free trade, climate change, and digital transformation.