Press Releases

On November 20, commencing at 4 p.m. for 15 minutes, Mr. SUGA Yoshihide, Prime Minister of Japan, held a summit telephone talk with Rt. Hon. Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand. The overview of the talk is as follows.

1. At the outset, Prime Minister Suga congratulated Prime Minister Ardern on her historic victory in the October general election and reappointment as prime minister and paid tribute to her leadership in dealing with COVID-19. In response, Prime Minister Ardern congratulated Prime Minister Suga on his appointment as prime minister.
2. As important "Strategic Cooperative Partners" in the Indo-Pacific region sharing common values, the leaders encouraged cooperation between Japan and New Zealand on efforts to realize a "Free and Open Indo-Pacific", on the expansion of a free and fair economic order through WTO reform and mechanisms such as TPP11 and RCEP, and in the field of security.
3. Regarding North Korea, Prime Minister Suga thanked New Zealand for its work on countering ship-to-ship transfers and asked for continued understanding and cooperation on the abductions issue, receiving Prime Minister Ardern's strong support.
4. In response to Prime Minister Ardern's request for cooperation to make next year's APEC meeting, which New Zealand will chair, a success, Prime Minister Suga welcomed close coordination between the two countries.