Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will discuss strengthening cooperation with the North Atlantic Alliance and the situation in the Indo-Pacific region during his upcoming visit to the US to participate in the NATO summit, Cabinet Secretary General Yoshimasa Hayashi said at a press conference in Tokyo, Ednews informs referring to TASS.

"Prime Minister Kishida will visit Washington from July 10 to 11 to attend the NATO summit. In addition, he will visit Germany from July 12 to 14, where he will participate in the Japan-German summit and other events. Prime Minister Kishida participates in the NATO summit for the third year in a row. On the occasion of this meeting, marking the 75th anniversary of the creation of NATO, leaders should reaffirm that the security of Europe, the Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific region are inseparable, and also discuss the situation in the Indo-Pacific region itself. In addition, we expect to strengthen cooperation with NATO," he noted.

In recent years, Japan has been actively expanding cooperation with NATO. Kishida has already taken part in alliance summits twice. There is a permanent mission of Japan at NATO headquarters in Brussels.

In 2023, NATO began to actively discuss the issue of opening a permanent mission in Tokyo. It was supposed to be made the center of the alliance's activity in Asia. It was expected that a corresponding decision would be made at the NATO summit in Vilnius in July last year, but agreement on this matter could not be achieved.