Japan-France Relations
Japan-France Summit Telephone Talk
November 15, 2021
On November 15, commencing at 5:35 p.m. (JST) for approximately 35 minutes, Mr. KISHIDA Fumio, Prime Minister of Japan, held a telephone talk with H.E. Mr. Emmanuel Macron, President of the French Republic. The overview of the meeting is as follows.
- At the outset, Prime Minister Kishida stated that France is an “Exceptional Partner" as well as an extremely important partner in the Indo-Pacific for Japan, and he would like to further strengthen the relations between Japan and France as well as the cooperation toward a free and open Indo-Pacific. In response, President Macron expressed his congratulations on Prime Minister Kishida’s appointment to office and conveyed his intention to cooperate with Prime Minister Kishida to strengthen Japan-France relations.
- The two leaders welcomed the recent significant strengthening of the bilateral security and defense cooperation, including a visit by the French training fleet “Jeanne d'Arc” to a port in Japan this May, and shared the view to continue to work closely together. Prime Minister Kishida also highly appreciated France's leading role in formulating the EU Strategy for cooperation in the Indo-Pacific and expressed his wish to deepen cooperation between Japan and the EU in partnership with France, who will assume the EU Presidency in the first half of next year.
- The two leaders exchanged views on global issues such as COVID-19, climate change and development of Africa. President Macron highly appreciated the contribution of Japan announced by Prime Minister Kishida at COP26 including additional financial contribution in order to bring about a decarbonized society in the world.
- The two leaders also exchanged views on regional situations, including China and North Korea. They affirmed that they would continue to cooperate in dealing with North Korea, including on the abductions issue.