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EU, Japan celebrate close cooperation with end of EU food restrictions in wake of Fukushima disaster - The Associated Press

The Associated Press · last updated

EU, Japan celebrate close cooperation with end of EU food restrictions in wake of Fukushima disaster | AP News

EU, Japan celebrate close cooperation with end of EU food restrictions in wake of Fukushima disaster
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, center, walks with European Council President Charles Michel, left, as he shakes hands with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen after an EU-Japan summit in Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)ASSOCIATED PRESSJapan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, center, walks with European Council President Charles Michel, right, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen during an EU-Japan summit in Brussels, Thursday, July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

ASSOCIATED PRESS
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen addresses the media after an EU-Japan summit in Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addresses the media after an EU-Japan summit in Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

ASSOCIATED PRESS
European Council President Charles Michel addresses the media after an EU-Japan summit in Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, left, European Council President Charles Michel, second left, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, second right, address the media after an EU-Japan summit in Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida addresses the media after an EU-Japan summit in Brussels, Belgium, Thursday, July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, left, waits for the start of an EU-Japan summit in Brussels, Thursday, July 13, 2023. (Olivier Matthys, Pool Photo via AP)

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, left, and Japan’s Secretary General of National Security Secretariat Takeo Akiba wait for the start of an EU-Japan summit in Brussels, Thursday, July 13, 2023. (Olivier Matthys, Pool Photo via AP)

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, Deputy Chief of Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki and Ambassador to the EU Yasushi Masaki, from left, to right, wait for the start of an EU-Japan summit in Brussels, Thursday, July 13, 2023. (Olivier Matthys, Pool Photo via AP)

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, center, walks European Council President Charles Michel, right, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on arrival for an EU-Japan summit in Brussels, Thursday, July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, center, poses for photographers with European Council President Charles Michel, right, and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen on arrival for an EU-Japan summit in Brussels, Thursday, July 13, 2023. (AP Photo/Geert Vanden Wijngaert)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union and Japan celebrated their close cooperation with Thursday’s announcement that the 27-nation bloc will lift the food import restrictions it had imposed in the wake of the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster.

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida held a short summit with EU leaders Ursula von der Leyen and Charles Michel, further cementing a diplomatic unity that was only reinforced since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“We know that the Pacific security and European security are indivisible,” von der Leyen said after both leaders discussed their joint strategic challenges at the NATO summit in Vilnius, Lithuania.

In an attempt to decrease their dependencies for critical raw materials on China, Japan and the EU decided to step up their cooperation in that sector too.

And a dozen years after an earthquake set off the Fukushima nuclear disaster, the EU decided to lift the remaining import restrictions based on the advice of the International Atomic Energy Agency.

“We have taken this decision based on science and based on the proof of evidence,” von der Leyen said.

Japan at the same time agreed to be more lenient on EU farm and food imports.

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