（Press Release）
June 1, 2024
Japan Ministry of Defense
On June 1, 2024, Defense Minister Kihara, visiting Singapore to attend the 21st IISS Asian Security Summit Shangri La Dialogue, held a meeting with H.E. Sébastien Lecornu, Minister for the Armed Forces, French Republic. The overview of the meeting is as follows.
- Minister Kihara expressed his appreciation to hold the meeting for first time with Minister Lecornu. Minister Kihara also congratulated on the announcement of the commencement of the negotiation on Japan-France Reciprocal Access Agreement (RAA), and expressed his hope for further deepening of the future defense cooperation and exchange between Japan and France and Minister Lecornu shared the same view.
- In addition, Minister Kihara stated that the cooperation with France, the only EU member state that maintains a constant military presence in the Indo-Pacific region, is further required, and welcomed the continuous deployment of French assets and units to the Indo-Pacific region.
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Furthermore, both Ministers concurred to promote Japan-France cooperation through multilateral defense cooperation frameworks and defense equipment/technology cooperation as well as in areas such as space and cyber.