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Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, after meeting his Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni, welcomed Italy’s move to increase its presence in the Indo-Pacific region, where several visits by Italy’s warships, including its strike group, and joint exercises are planned this year.
“Japan and Italy are valuable strategic partners that share values and principles such as freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law,” Mr Kishida said.
Mr Kishida also praised progress in their joint development of a new advanced fighter jet with Britain.
The three countries in December signed an agreement to establish a joint organisation to develop a new advanced jet fighter for deployment in 2035.