HELSINKI (Kyodo) – The foreign ministers of Japan and Finland agreed on Tuesday to further promote security cooperation as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine shakes up the international order.
In a joint press statement after talks in Helsinki, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa and Finnish Foreign Minister Elina Valtonen announced Tokyo’s “Nordic Diplomacy Initiative,” which will significantly strengthen cooperation in various fields with the Nordic countries. He said he shared it.
Under this initiative, Japan will strengthen cooperation with Finland, Denmark, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden, not only in security but also in areas such as research activities in the Arctic, gender equality, decarbonization, and digitalization. Mr. Kamikawa said that he is aiming to do so.
Russia’s neighbor Finland had maintained military neutrality for decades, but applied to join NATO in May 2022 after Moscow launched a war against Kiev three months earlier. In April last year, it became the 31st member of the Transatlantic Alliance.
According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Kamikawa was the first Japanese foreign minister to visit Finland since 1985.
She is on a two-week tour starting Friday that will take her to Europe, North America and Turkey. She visited Ukraine on Sunday.