Takaichi confirms strengthened cooperation with Vietnam and Australia on energy and critical mineral supply chains.

Takaichi confirms strengthened cooperation with Vietnam and Australia on energy and critical mineral supply chains.

[Prime Minister Takaichi Spoke to the Press Regarding Her Visit to Viet Nam and Australia] (Reporter)Madame Prime Minister, thank you for your time. I am Kojima from the coordinating agency, NHK. First, I would like to ask you regarding your recent visits. Prior to your departure, you indicated your intention to confirm cooperation with Vietnam and Australia to strengthen supply chain resilience, including energy, in light of the situation in the Middle East. Do you believe that objective was achieved, and could you also outline the outcomes? Additionally, in Vietnam, you delivered a foreign policy speech upgrading the “Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP).” Marking ten years since its proposal by former Prime Minister Abe, why is it necessary to upgrade FOIP at this time, and how do you intend to reflect the content of your speech in future diplomatic policy? (Prime Minister Takaichi)Thank you. During my visits to Vietnam and Australia, in addition to deepening personal trust with each of the leaders, we were able to reach agreement on advancing concrete cooperation toward our shared objective of enhancing mutual resilience and autonomy, and becoming stronger and more prosperous together as a region. In the field of economic security in particular, we issued cooperation documents with each country. We confirmed strengthened cooperation in addressing urgent challenges for Japan, including ensuring stable energy supplies such as LNG, and reinforcing supply chain resilience for rare earths and other critical minerals. Given the current situation in the Middle East, I believe this represents a significant achievement. Notably, with Vietnam, we agreed to proceed with support for additional crude oil procurement as the first project under the “POWERR Asia” initiative that I announced last month. Medical supplies produced by Japanese companies in Vietnam are exported to Japan. Supporting energy procurement necessary for Vietnam’s economic activity—a country bearing the role of an important regional supply chain hub—helps stabilize the livelihoods of people in both Japan and Vietnam. This is of great importance. We also held substantive discussions with both leaders on regional affairs and security cooperation. We agreed on closer coordination regarding strategic challenges in the Indo-Pacific, including the situation in East Asia, and especially on further deepening security cooperation. In particular, with Australia—a frontrunner in like-minded security cooperation—we strongly reaffirmed further strengthening cooperation as partners at a level that could be described as “quasi-allies.” Regarding the “Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP),” which now marks ten years since its proposal by Prime Minister Abe, I delivered a policy speech on its upgrading. In that speech, I emphasized the need to enhance the autonomy and resilience of regional countries in response to changes over the past decade, and to become stronger and more prosperous together through concrete cooperation. I am pleased that both leaders expressed support