Japan, 4 Eastern European Nations Agree to Beef Up Ties

Warsaw, June 16 (Jiji Press)--Japan agreed to strengthen security and energy cooperation with four Eastern European countries that form the Visegrad Group, or V4, at their summit held in the Polish capital on Sunday. At the meeting, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his counterparts from the V4 countries--Donald Tusk of Poland, Petr Necas of the Czech Republic, Viktor Orban of Hungary and Robert Fico of Slovakia--adopted a joint statement summing up their discussions. At a joint press conference after the meeting, Abe said, "I want to realize the great potential of V4-Japan cooperation." "We have agreed to dramatically enhance our relations," he added. The joint statement, which was released at the press conference, stressed the leaders confirmed that Japan and the V4 countries share universal values and are working together to tackle a series of international challenges as equal partners and that their partnership based on their common values for the 21st century has reached a new stage. On the security front, the statement underscored the five countries' intention to cooperate in preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass-destruction and international terrorism through such bodies as the United Nations, the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Apparently having in mind China's growing maritime activities, the document cited the importance of abiding by international laws including the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea. Relations between Japan and China have deteriorated substantially over the Japanese-administered Senkaku islands in the East China Sea, which have also been claimed by China. The Japanese and V4 leaders expressed their grave concerns over North Korea's nuclear and missile development programs including uranium enrichment, and said that they denounce the reclusive country's nuclear test in February and its ballistic missile launches in April and December 2012 in the strongest terms. The statement strongly urged Pyongyang to resolve the issue of Japanese nationals abducted by North Korean spies decades ago, showing the leaders' concerns over human rights abuses in the country. The four Eastern European countries all have diplomatic relations with North Korea while there are no such relations between Tokyo and Pyongyang. The leaders showed hopes to deepen cooperation between Japan and the four countries in the fields of nuclear power, environmental conservation, energy-saving and renewable energy. Japan has reconfirmed its responsibility to contribute to enhancing nuclear power plant safety on a global level by redoubling efforts to share with the rest of the world the lessons and knowledge learned from the country's worst nuclear accident in March 2011 at Tokyo Electric Power Co.'s <9501> disaster-stricken Fukushima No. 1 plant, the statement said. Promoting cooperation with Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia is based on Abe's policy of deepening ties between Japan and other democratic countries sharing the same values. The four former socialist countries joined the EU in 2004. Abe and the V4 leaders decided to designate 2014 as the year of exchanges between Japan and the four nations, as the next year will mark 10 years since the countries cemented ties in 2004 partly thanks to the initiative of then Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. Abe appointed Japanese actress Nao Matsushita as goodwill ambassador for the exchange year. To further strengthen mutual understanding and cooperation, Japan and the V4 countries confirmed the importance of regularly holding high-level dialogues such as meetings among their top leaders and foreign ministers, the statement said. END --------------------------------------------------------------------------------