Press Releases
Working Dinner between State Minister for Foreign Affairs KUNIMITSU and H.E. Shekerinska, NATO Deputy Secretary General
March 5, 2026
On March 5, from 6:30 p.m. for about 105 minutes, Dr. KUNIMITSU Ayano, State Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, held a working dinner with H.E. Radmila Shekerinska, Deputy Secretary General of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), who is visiting Japan at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The overview is as follows:
- At the outset, State Minister KUNIMITSU welcomed Deputy Secretary General Shekerinska and stated that, under the recognition that the security of the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific is inseparable, the importance of cooperation between Japan and NATO and between NATO and Indo-Pacific partners (IP4: Japan, Australia, New Zealand, the Republic of Korea) is increasing, and that Japan would like to build up concrete cooperation with NATO in various fields, including defense equipment and industrial cooperation, and raise the relationship to a new height.
- In response, Deputy Secretary General Shekerinska expressed appreciation for the invitation and stated that she would like to further develop the increasingly close and favorable Japan–NATO relations going forward.
- In addition, the two sides exchanged views on the situation surrounding Iran and confirmed the importance of continuing diplomatic efforts toward an early de-escalation of the situation, given that attacks by Iran have spread to neighboring countries.
- Furthermore, the two sides exchanged views on Russia’s aggression against Ukraine and regional situations, including the Indo-Pacific, and confirmed that Japan and NATO, as well as NATO and the Indo-Pacific partners (IP4), will continue to work closely together on the various challenges facing the international community.