November 2021

Japan-UK Summit Meeting and Japan-Australia Summit Meeting

On November 2, 2021, Mr. Kishida Fumio, Prime Minister of Japan, who was visiting the United Kingdom to attend the 26th session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 26), held summit meetings respectively with the Rt Hon Boris Johnson MP, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and with the Hon Scott Morrison, MP, Prime Minister of the Commonwealth of Australia. The overviews of the meetings are as follows.

Japan-UK Summit Meeting

At the beginning, Prime Minister Johnson expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Kishida for attending COP26. Prime Minister Kishida stated that he is determined to lead global decarbonization with Prime Minister Johnson, and that he would like to work closely together toward the success of COP26 and beyond. The two leaders affirmed that they would continue to work together to raise the Japan-UK relationship, which is stronger than ever, to a new stage and robustly advance a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific.”

Prime Minister Kishida stated he would work toward the achievement of the “National Determined Contribution (NDC)” submitted by Japan and had announced at COP26 that (1) in addition to $60 billion support in public and private finance in the next five years (announced in June), Japan would provide up to $10 billion of additional support in the coming five years; (2) Japan would double adaptation assistance to $14.8 billion in the public and private sectors over five years; and (3) Japan would provide new financial assistance of $240 million for global forestry conservation. He stated that, in order to create a globally decarbonized society, it is necessary to advance a clean energy transition while maximizing the introduction of renewable energy, especially in Asia, and that he would advance the transition from fossil fuels to zero emission thermal power. Prime Minister Johnson welcomed Japan’s announcement for support.

The two leaders welcomed the investment of Japanese companies in the UK and other cooperative ventures between Japanese and British companies, and concurred on further cooperation to strengthen economic relations between the two countries. Prime Minister Kishida also urged the UK to lift its import restrictions on Japanese food products. Prime Minister Johnson responded that he would give the request a positive consideration.

Japan-Australia Summit Meeting

Prime Minister Kishida and Prime Minister Morrison concurred on working together to raise the “Special Strategic Partnership” between the two countries to a higher level, toward the realization of a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific.” Both leaders also reaffirmed the importance of advancing not only bilateral cooperation, but also cooperation between Japan, Australia, India and the U.S., as well as between Japan, Australia and the U.S.

Prime Minister Kishida expressed his respect for Australia’s commitment to net zero emissions by 2050, which was recently announced by Prime Minister Morrison. The two leaders concurred that they would continue to cooperate on global issues such as climate change.

The two leaders also exchanged views on the situation of North Korea, including nuclear and missile-related activities. They confirmed that they would continue to work together on the response to North Korea, including the abductions issue.

Note: This article has been created with the consent of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and on the basis of materials published by the Ministry