Abe Seeks to Continue Dialogue with 4 Eastern European Nations

October 19, 2018

Brussels- Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday asked four Eastern European countries forming the Visegrad Group, or V4, to continue political dialogue with Tokyo under the V4-plus-Japan framework launched in 2003.

At a meeting in Brussels with leaders of the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia, Abe also proposed cooperation in the fields of tourism, personnel exchange, disaster management and environmental conservation.

The summit between Japan and the V4 countries was the first since 2013.

V4 participants in Thursday's meeting were the prime ministers of the countries--Andrej Babis of the Czech Republic, Viktor Orban of Hungary, Mateusz Morawiecki of Poland and Peter Pellegrini of Slovakia.

The V4 leaders requested science and technology cooperation from Japan. They also called on Japan to provide economic assistance to former Yugoslavian countries, which aim to join the European Union. The V4 countries are members of the EU.

At a time when the V4 countries are actively receiving investment from and deepening political relations with China, Abe stressed that Japan is their partner that shares universal values such as freedom and democracy.

He also sought the V4 leaders' understanding and cooperation for maintaining U.N. Security Council sanctions on North Korea and resolving the issue of Pyongyang's abductions of Japanese nationals decades ago. Jiji Press