Foreign Policy

1. Prime Minister Kishida stated that at a time when the international community is at a history’s turning point, the concept of FOIP is becoming more important than ever toward the goal of leading the international community in the direction of cooperation rather than division and confrontation.
2. Prime Minister Kishida went on to stress that the fundamental concept of FOIP remains the same even at this turning point and emphasize core principles of FOIP, such as defending freedom and rule of law and respecting diversity, inclusiveness, openness. Based on these principles, as the approach we should take going forward, he presented "rulemaking through dialogue," "equal partnership" among countries, and an approach focusing on "people." He also expressed that Japan would strengthen coordination with other countries, expand the networks among countries that share the vision of FOIP, and direct efforts in the spirit of cocreation.
3. Prime Minister Kishida then set forth the new “four pillars” of cooperation for FOIP: principles for peace and rules for prosperity, addressing challenges in an Indo-Pacific way, multi-layered connectivity, and extending efforts for security and safe use of the “sea” to the “air”. He explained in concrete terms the expansion of cooperation for FOIP by incorporating realistic and practical cooperation in wide range of areas, such as climate change, food security, global health and cybersecurity. He also announced a new contribution of 100 million US dollars to the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund.
4. Furthermore, Prime Minister Kishida stated that in expanding cooperation for FOIP, Japan would engage in a strategic use of ODA, expand our ODA in various forms, and from this viewpoint, revise the Development Cooperation Charter and set forth guidelines for ODA for the next 10 years. He then announced that Japan would launch an “offer-type” cooperation, introduce a new framework for "private capital mobilization-type" grant aid, and move forward with the amendment of the JBIC Law. He also announced that Japan would mobilize a total of more than 75 billion US dollars in public and private funds in the Indo-Pacific region by 2030 in infrastructure and grow together with other countries.
5. In closing, Prime Minister Kishida stated that together with India as an indispensable partner in developing FOIP, Japan would cooperate with many countries including ASEAN countries. He also stated that as the G7 presidency, Japan would cooperate with India for the success of the G20, and that he was looking forward to welcoming Prime Minister Modi to Hiroshima in May and visiting India again in September.

[Reference]
Policy speech by Prime Minister Kishida“the Future of the Indo-Pacific—Japan’s New Plan for a ‘Free and Open Indo-Pacific’ — ‘Together with India, as an Indispensable Partner’ ” (Japanese(PDF) / English(PDF))