(Provisional translation by an external company for reference purpose only)
I will visit Belgium and Italy from Wednesday, October 16 to Monday, October 21. In Brussels, Belgium, I will attend the Meeting of NATO Ministers of Defence for the first time as a Japanese defense minister. In Naples, Italy, I will attend the G7 Ministers’ Meeting on Defence , which will be held for the first time under the auspices of Italy, the G7 presidency this year. In addition, a Japan-UK-Italy Trilateral Defense Ministerial Meeting on a next-generation fighter is scheduled to be held. Through this visit, I intend to underscore that the security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific are indivisible and emphatically communicate the situation in the Indo-Pacific region. I will also reaffirm our commitment to strengthen trilateral cooperation on the next-generation fighter, and confirm the strong unity with like-minded countries toward maintaining and strengthening a free and open international order based on the rule of law.