(Provisional translation by an external company for reference purpose only)
I have an announcement about the Japan-UK-Italy Trilateral Defense Ministerial Meeting that was held. Yesterday, commencing at around 5 p.m., I attended an online Trilateral Defense Ministerial Meeting with Secretary of State for Defence Healey of the UK and Minister of Defense Crosetto of Italy. We discussed the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), a trilateral collaboration to jointly develop the next-generation fighter aircraft. A key milestone for GCAP this year is to conclude a contract between the GCAP International Government Organisation (GIGO), which centrally manages administers GCAP, and Edgewing, a joint venture launched on the 20th of last month. Doing so is expected to make the programme’s management structure more efficient and effective and further accelerate the programme. In addition, to conclude the contract and expedite the programme, it is necessary to strengthen the structures of both GIGO and the joint venture and bring them into full operation as soon as possible. In this regard, during yesterday’s meeting, Japan, the UK, and Italy, respectively, concurred to promptly send the necessary additional personnel to GIGO and the joint venture, and to conclude the contract between GIGO and the joint venture by the end of this year. Furthermore, following the trilateral meeting, we held a session joined by companies. The three of us requested the companies to make thorough efforts aimed at concluding the contract by the end of this year. GIGO and the joint venture are indeed the two wheels of a cart in moving the GCAP programme forward. The ministers will continue to coordinate closely to ensure that we transition to the GIGO-joint venture structure as soon as possible and advance GCAP more powerfully as one team.