More support for Ukraine, a new NATO office in Tokyo and a new partnership agreement with the world’s most powerful military alliance are set to top Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s agenda when he attends the NATO leaders’ summit in Vilnius, Lithuania, next week.
Kishida, who last year became the first Japanese prime minister to attend such a gathering, is set to join the summit on July 11 and 12 with the leaders of South Korea, Australia and New Zealand. Informally known as the Asia-Pacific Four, these countries, which have been part of NATO’s “global partners” group since the early 2010s, are also expected to enter deeper partnerships with the trans-Atlantic alliance.
The planned transition to NATO’s new Individually Tailored Partnership Program (ITPP) later this year also appears far more advanced than initially reported, with the Vilnius summit likely to see the new partnerships approved for each of the four countries, Jamie Shea, a former deputy assistant secretary-general for emergency security challenges at NATO, told The Japan Times.