Abe to Kick Off Tour of Britain, Netherlands Wed.

January 6, 2019

Tokyo--Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit the Netherlands and Britain from Wednesday, fully kicking off his diplomatic events for this year.

Abe is set to meet with British Prime Minister Theresa May and ask her anew to make sure that Japanese companies operating in Britain will not be affected by the nation's exit from the European Union, informed sources said.

Abe and May are likely to discuss economic alliances, according to the sources. Britain has shown interest in joining the Trans-Pacific Partnership free trade pact among Japan and 10 other countries.

At a New Year press conference on Friday, Abe said, "Japan is determined to lead the efforts to formulate fair rules for a new era, raising the banner of free trade," at a time when concerns over protectionist moves are increasing in the world.

Britain and the Netherlands are slated to take part in the summit of the Group of 20 advanced and emerging economies, to be held in Osaka, western Japan, in June. Britain is a G-20 member. The Netherlands is not a member of the forum, but has been invited to the June summit along with seven other nonmember countries.

The visit to Britain will be the first for Abe since April 2017. Abe and May are also likely to exchange views on Japanese machinery giant Hitachi Ltd.'s <6501> project to build nuclear power reactors in Britain, the sources said.

In addition, the Japanese and British leaders are expected to confirm the two countries' stepped-up cooperation in the field of security, including the expansion of joint exercises by Japan's Self-Defense Forces and the British military, and the promotion of joint research on defense equipment.

Abe and May are seen agreeing that Japan and Britain will work closely together to tackle North Korea's ship-to-ship smuggling of items banned under U.N. Security Council sanctions resolutions against Pyongyang and to realize the denuclearization of North Korea, the sources said.

Abe and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte are set to discuss mainly economic cooperation ahead of the effectuation of a Japan-EU economic partnership agreement for free trade next month.

The Japanese prime minister initially planned to visit the two European countries as part of a tour from late last November, which included a trip to South America. But he postponed the European part of the tour, putting priority on debates at the Diet, Japan's parliament, while visiting Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay as planned.

Many important diplomatic events are scheduled for Japan this year.

Late this month, Abe is slated to visit Russia to hold a meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin. At the bilateral summit, Abe will aim to achieve progress in negotiations on the two countries' longstanding territorial row over four Russian-held northwestern Pacific islands and the envisioned conclusion of a peace treaty to formally end World War II hostilities between Tokyo and Moscow.

After the G-20 summit in June, the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development, or TICAD VII, will be held in Yokohama, the capital of Kanagawa Prefecture, south of Tokyo, in August. Jiji Press