February 19, 2024
Japan hosts Ukraine reconstruction meeting to showcase support
Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida on Monday vowed his nation’s long-term engagement in Ukraine’s reconstruction, calling it a future investment, as Japan hosted Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal for talks.
Support for Ukraine’s reconstruction is about “investing in the future,” Kishida said in his opening remarks at a conference in Tokyo, which Japan co-organized with the Ukrainian government and business organizations.
“The war in Ukraine is still going on at this very moment and the situation is not easy. The promotion of economic reconstruction, however, is not only an investment for the future of Ukraine but also investing in Japan and the whole globe,” he said.
Kishida announced a new bilateral tax treaty and the start of negotiations for an investment treaty without providing further details. The two countries also signed more than 50 bilateral agreements, including accords for cooperation in the agriculture and energy sectors.
Shmyhal, who headed Ukraine’s delegation of more than 100 people, expressed thanks for the encouragement and said that “today is the new start of cooperation between the two countries.”
He added “Ukraine is not just rebuilding, we are generating new rules of the game, new approaches,” he said. All eyes are on Ukraine, and “dictators and potential invaders” are also turning their eyes to see how Moscow’s violation of the international law is seen and how the world will react to it, he added.
