Japan-Türkiye Relations

July 7, 2017
Japan-Turkey Summit Meeting1 Photo: Cabinet Public Relations Office
Japan-Turkey Summit Meeting2 Photo: Cabinet Public Relations Office
On July 7 for approximately 40 minutes starting from 3:53 p.m., Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a summit meeting with H.E. Mr. Recep Tayyip Erdogan, President of the Republic of Turkey in Hamburg, Germany during their visit to attend the G20 Summit. The overview is as follows.

1 Opening remarks

Prime Minister Abe reiterated his respect for the decisiveness of President Erdogan, overcoming the attempted coup d'etat last year, embarking on the holding of a national referendum on the amendment of the constitution at a difficult time, and winning the support of the people. He stated that during the recent visit to Japan of H.E. Mr. Mevl?t ?avu?o?lu, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Turkey, the two sides accorded to build multi-tiered bilateral relations based on the historical friendship, and that he wanted to further strengthen ties between the two leaders as well.

President Erdogan stated that he was pleased to be able to meet Prime Minister Abe again and restated that he was grateful to Prime Minister Abe for being one of the first leaders to express support for Turkey on the occasion of the attempted coup d'etat.

2 Bilateral relations

(1) Prime Minister Abe stated that he wanted to deepen exchanges between the citizens of the two countries at a variety of levels. In addition, he mentioned the strong interest that Japanese companies have in Turkey and stated that he wanted to proceed with negotiations for the EPA and Agreement on Social Security aimed at further trade and investment expansion, and stated his expectations for the participation of Japanese companies in infrastructure projects in Turkey going forward, including the promotion of cooperation in the field of space. 
Furthermore, Prime Minister Abe welcomed the coming into force in Turkey of the Law for Establishment of the Turkish-Japanese Science and Technology University, and reaffirmed that Japan would cooperate toward the establishment of the university, which would become an important platform for cooperation between the two countries in the future.

(2) In response, President Erdogan stated that he placed importance on cooperation with Japan, that he wanted to increase the number of Japanese tourists coming to Turkey in order to further develop economic relations between the two countries, and that the Turkish-Japanese Science and Technology University is an important project that will bring together outstanding researchers and students. 

3 Regional issues

In addition, the two leaders held an exchange of views regarding North Korea and the situation in the Middle East.

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