(Provisional translation by an external company for reference purpose only)
Tomorrow, Wednesday, January 29, I will welcome Minister of Defence Pevkur of Estonia and hold the Japan-Estonia Defense Ministers Meeting. It is the first time for the Defense Ministers Meeting with the country since it was held at the Ministry of Defense in September 2018. Japan and Estonia share values and principles such as freedom, democracy, and human rights. At the same time, Estonia, facing Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, has been implementing specialized studies on information warfare, cybersecurity, the Tallinn Manual, and other things, and promoting extremely advanced initiatives in these fields. From this perspective, it is greatly significant to have such high-level dialogue towards expansion of bilateral defense cooperation and exchanges. At the meeting, I will exchange views on the regional situation, under the recognition that the security of the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific regions are inseparable. I will also have concrete discussion for further development of security and defense cooperation between the two countries.