Remarks by President Donald Tusk after the EU-Japan summit in Tokyo
Dear Prime Minister, dear Shinzō. Let me start by paying tribute to the Japanese people and to you personally for the bravery and dignity with which you have approached the recent natural disasters. Not only the whole of Europe, but in fact the whole world was watching your enormous struggle. We have all admired your resilience and strength in dealing with this tragedy. I have been watching hour by hour how you dealt with this crisis and was particularly moved by your personal and very human engagement in Okayama and Ehime prefectures with those affected most. And it is this human side of yours dear Shinzō, which makes you a great friend of the people. Europe respects you greatly, also for this. Please be assured that you can count on us and on the European solidarity. We will always be there for you because this is what friends do.
And it is today that we cement the Japanese-European friendship forever. Relations between the European Union and Japan have never been stronger. Geographically, we are far apart. But politically and economically we could hardly be any closer. We both firmly believe in openness, cooperation, rules-based international order and free trade. We both share values of liberal democracy, human rights and the rule of law.
I am proud that today we are taking our strategic partnership to a new level with two landmark agreements between the European Union and Japan - the Strategic Partnership Agreement and the Economic Partnership Agreement.
We are putting in place the largest bilateral trade deal ever. This is an act of enormous strategic importance for the rules-based international order, at a time when some are questioning this order. We are sending a clear message that we stand together against protectionism. The European Union and Japan remain open for cooperation. Beyond trade, we are also agreeing a robust framework for dealing with a wide range of areas like security and defence, energy and climate or people-to-people exchanges.
In foreign policy we stand side by side with Japan in efforts to maintain pressure on Pyongyang so as to ensure complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. We want to see an end to all of DPRK's nuclear and ballistic missile programmes. We also fully support Japan on the issue of abducted citizens, which you, dear Shinzō, pursue so vigorously.
Japan and the EU remain united in our commitment to making the Iran nuclear deal work. We also reiterated our full support for Ukrainian sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity. The only solution to this conflict is through the full implementation of the Minsk agreements.
To conclude let me say that today is a good day not only for all the Japanese and Europeans but for all reasonable people of this world who believe in mutual respect and cooperation. Thank you.
Meer over...