Statement by Kengo Sakurada, Chairman of Keizai Doyukai
on Outcome of U.S.-Japan Summit

April 17, 2021

Kengo Sakurada
Chairman, Keizai Doyukai

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1. Prime Minister Suga had a summit meeting with President Biden. He was the first foreign leader Biden met in person in his presidency. We welcome that the two leaders have affirmed the strong bonds and the multi-layered partnership between the United States and Japan. They delivered a clear message that the two countries will cooperate and demonstrate leadership in pursuing multilateral partnership, for taking on significant challenges such as regional security, COVID-19 countermeasures, and climate change. We consider that it is of significant importance.
2. In today's world, diverse factors, such as economy, diplomacy/security, and advanced technologies, are mingled together. That has reminded me that now is the times our country and each business entity must maneuver through by making tough decisions. Against this backdrop, the two leaders frankly exchanged views on China's challenges to the existing international order and on regional state of affairs. They went on to express their strong commitment to defending universal values including freedom, democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. We appreciate the outcome of the meeting.
3. We also welcome the initiatives mentioned during the meeting of the concrete partnerships in the fields including climate change, digitalization, and science/technology/innovation. It is essential that the countries of shared values partner on creating supply chains for the critical technologies such as 5th generation wireless networks, semi-conductors, and artificial intelligence in particular. We, business leaders, are ready to participate actively in the initiatives, bearing in mind that the implementation of the initiatives is up to the businesses.

Japanese version