On 26 June 2024, NATO hosted military staff talks with Japan, at NATO Headquarters in Brussels. The discussions focused on the ongoing partnership, security challenges, resilience building and future opportunities for cooperation. The meeting took place under the auspices of the NATO Cooperative Security Division.
NATO's delegation of military experts, led by Major General Dacian-Tiberiu Șerban, Director of the NATO Cooperative Security Division, met with their Japanese counterparts headed by Major General Nobutaka Minamikawa, Director General of the Defence Plans and Policy Department, Joint Staff of the Japanese Armed Forces.
In his opening remarks General Serban noted NATO's long-standing partnership with Japan. He underscored how the signing of the renewed Individual Tailored Partnership Program in July 2023 and subsequent military planning, demonstrated the strong commitment of mutual support. "NATO's engagement with Japan and other global partners is increasingly relevant in a complex security environment. We see an ever-increasing convergence of confronting challenges, for both the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific region. These challenges include, cyber, hybrid and disinformation, climate change, energy security and emerging disruptive technologies," he added.
The military talks included sessions on NATO's relations with Partners in the Indo-Pacific and on gender in the military, both in NATO and Japan. Gender mainstreaming seeks to ensure that women and men can work together with equal opportunities. One focal point was how gender mainstreaming is a key success factor for Operations.
In his closing remarks General Serban highlighted that NATO and Japan are working side by side to defend the rules-based international order. He said that by sharing military expertise NATO hopes to support Japan's resilience and capability development in a broad sense. "Likewise, the exchange of your knowledge will certainly strengthen NATO. Japan is certainly considered as a high-level and close Partner that shares our values and concerns," General Serban added.
The last military staff talks with Japan took place from 24 to 26 April 2023 in Tokyo. All delegations of Indo-Pacific Partners also met with NATO Chiefs of Defence in January 2024.
