Japan-EU Relations
Japan-EU Leaders Telephone Talk
October 6, 2020
On October 6, commencing at around 6:10 p.m. for approximately 20 minutes, H.E. Mr. SUGA Yoshihide, Prime Minister of Japan, held a telephone talk with H.E. Dr. Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission. The overview of the talk is as follows.
- At the outset, Prime Minister Suga stated that the EU is Japan’s important partner, sharing fundamental values, and that the Japan-EU relationship has become stronger than ever under the Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) and Strategic Partnership Agreement (SPA). In response, President von der Leyen extended her congratulations on Prime Minister Suga’s appointment to the office and expressed her willingness to work with Prime Minister Suga on further enhancing the bilateral relationship between Japan and the EU.
- Both leaders affirmed their intention to closely cooperate on international affairs, including East Asia, toward the realization of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” so as to ensure stability and prosperity of the international community and shared their view to cooperate in addressing issues related to North Korea, including the abductions issue.
- The two leaders further shared the view to collaborate to play leading roles on various issues such as measures against COVID-19 including development and distribution of vaccines, digital transformation, environment and climate change.