(19 Jun 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tokyo, Japan – 19 June 2024
++SOUNDBITES SEPARATED BY BLACK FRAME++
1. New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida enter the room ahead of their joint statement
2. SOUNDBITE (Japanese) Fumio Kishida, Japanese Prime Minister:
"I am very pleased to welcome Prime Minister (Christopher) Luxon for the first time since he was announced as the new Prime Minister. As the strategic environment in the Indo-Pacific region intensifies, it is crucial than ever for the two countries with shared values to strengthen their strategic partnership. I consider the meeting was very valuable due to fact that we agreed to strengthen in order to realise a free and open Indo-Pacific, to strengthen the relations between the two countries in various fields such as security and economy, and complied a joint statement."
++BLACK FRAME++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Christopher Luxon, New Zealand Prime Minister:
"Today’s discussion bore this out. There is no more important time than right now for our two countries to be engaging together to understand and to respond to the serious regional issues in Japan’s neighbourhood. We talked briefly about Vladimir Putin’s visit to Pyongyang and how North Korea is fuelling Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine. We discussed the importance of our work together to deter North Korea from advancing its nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles programme. And with Prime Minister Kishida having just returned from the G7 and the Ukraine Peace Conference, we also started to discuss global developments which we will continue over dinner. I am hugely ambitious for the Japan – New Zealand relationship. This is a country that I became interested in decades ago. The country that I have visited many times as a business executive and a country that I am delighted to get to so early in my tenure as prime minister.”
++BLACK FRAME++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Christopher Luton, New Zealand Prime Minister:
"I think these connections matter. It is through these relationships that we are able to get things done together. That’s why I brought with me a very large business delegation, a group focused on building relationships to help our two countries prosper. Prime Minister Kishida, I want to say thank you for the wonderful way in which you have hosted me and my team in Japan. We’ve seen the very best of your country. We go home inspired by your innovation and I appreciate very much your gracious hospitality you have provided me. I look forward to meeting with you throughout the course later on this year at international summits. So again, thank you very much. Arigato."
5. Kishida and Luxon shaking hands, leaving
STORYLINE:
New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Wednesday hailed bilateral ties with Japan amid ‘serious regional issues’ after talks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo.
During the meeting, the leaders referred to Russia’s President Vladimir Putin’s visit to Pyongyang and how North Korea is "fueling Russia’s illegal war in Ukraine", Luxon said.
Putin’s visited North Korea for the first time in 24 years, as the U.S. and its allies express growing concerns over an arms arrangement in which the country provides Moscow with badly needed munitions for its war in Ukraine in exchange for economic assistance and technology transfers that could enhance the threat posed by Kim’s nuclear weapons and missile programme.
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