Press Releases
Telephone Talk between Japanese and Italian Foreign Ministers
In light of the hostage incident of Japanese individuals in Syria, Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida, who is currently visiting the UK, had a telephone talk with Italian Foreign Minister Gentiloni at 10:00am (local time) on the 21st for fifteen minutes.
1. Foreign Minister Kishida made following points:
(1) Early morning yesterday, ISIL has released a video on the internet announcing its intent to kill Japanese individuals. A threat of this kind in exchange of peoples’ lives is unacceptable, and I feel strong indignation.
(2) The assistance of 200 million dollars which was announced by Prime Minister Abe is to make as much contribution as possible in the non-military areas, such as to provide assistance to the refugees.
(3) Japan will not succumb to terrorism, and will contribute to the international community’s fight against terrorism.
(4) Japan asks for the support of the Italian government in collecting information on facts of the situation and the cooperation towards early release of the Japanese individuals.
2. In response, Foreign Minister Gentiloni repeatedly expressed solidarity with Japan, and stated that he supported the humanitarian assistance announced by Prime Minister Abe in the Middle East, that ISIL’s approach was unacceptable and that Italy would provide full support to Japan to resolve the incident, including the sharing of information.
3. Also during the talk, the Ministers agreed to promote bilateral cooperation towards EXPO Milano 2015 in May, next year’s celebration of 150th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and Italy and others.