Tokyo: Japan and the European Union on Friday announced their new security and defense partnership, vowing to enhance bilateral cooperation and dialogue across the whole range of security and defense topics. The agreement was jointly released by Japanese Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya and EU's High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrell ahead of their "Japan-EU Strategic Dialogue" in Tokyo, Japan's Foreign Ministry said. According to Kuwait News Agency, "As Japan and the EU face an increasingly severe security environment, this partnership aims to further develop and strengthen cooperation and dialogue in all areas related to security and defense, particularly in the areas of maritime security, space, cyber security and hybrid threats, including Foreign Information Manipulation and Interference," a joint statement said. Under the agreement, the two sides will upgrade the existing informal, regular consultations to an annual Japan-EU Security and Defense Dialogue at Director-Gen eral and Managing Director level, to discuss the broad strategic environment, thematic security and defense issues, according to the statement. Japan and the EU will also promote their naval cooperation, including through the Administrative Arrangement between the EU's Naval Force Atalanta and the Japanese Self Defense Forces, the document said. In addition, they will explore possible cooperation on maritime capacity building of third countries in Indo-Pacific region, it said. "We are extremely pleased to be the first Indo-Pacific country to announce a security and defense partnership with the EU," Iwaya told a joint press conference with Borrell. "Japan-EU relations have never been stronger. We will continue to work closely with the EU in a wide range of areas, including security," he said. For his part, Borrell said called the partnership "the first agreement of this nature" the EU has made with an Asia-Pacific country, hailing it as historical and very timely step.
