Japan, Ukraine sign around 56 pacts for post-war recovery
Tokyo, Japan - Japan and Ukraine on Monday signed around 56 agreements in a range of fields including post-war recovery.
The agreements were signed during the Japan-ukraine Conference for Promotion of Economic Growth and Reconstruction in Tokyo.
Addressing the conference, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said fighting was still going on in Ukraine and ‘that the situation is not easy’, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported.
Tokyo hosted the one-day conference as the RussiaUkraine war completes two years this month.
Some 130 officials as well as business representatives from the two sides attended the conference. Kishida, who visited Kyiv last year, stressed that ‘promoting economic reconstruction in Ukraine is an investment for future’. “Japan is committed to strongly assisting such efforts with its public and private sectors working together,” he said
Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal said: “The conference will be the next step for Japan and Ukraine to develop bilateral relations.”
“By working together, the two countries can turn current challenges into an opportunity for growth and prosperity,” he added.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky cancelled his scheduled video address to the conference, with no reason provided, according to Tokyobased Kyodo News.
The two sides agreed to work in the areas including infrastruc
ture rebuilding, demining, agricultural expansion, improvement of the humanitarian situation, development of biotechnology, industry and information technology, and governance enhancement.
Tokyo and Kyiv are also working to eliminate double taxation. Besides Kishida’s government is mulling to open an office in Kyiv ‘to bolster business ties between the two countries’.
Japan has joined its Western allies in condemning Russia over its war on Ukraine and has sanctioned many Russian officials including President Vladimir Putin and Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Danish donation
Denmark has pledged to transfer
all of its artillery to Ukraine and has called on Europe to unite in its support for Kyiv, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said during the Munich Security Conference in Germany, local media reported on Sunday.
Frederiksen urged European nations to donate their existing stockpiles of weapons, ammunition and air defence systems, which according to her should be allocated to Ukraine.
“They are asking us for ammunition now, artillery now, and from the Danish side, we decided to donate our entire artillery,” she said.
Frederiksen criticised European leaders who in her opinion tend to cite issues with arms production as an excuse for not supplying weapons to Ukraine
while at the same time urging them to increase their production.
“This is not only a question about production because we have weapons, we have ammunition, we have air defences that we don’t have to use ourselves at the moment that we should deliver to Ukraine,” she said.
Her announcement came as Ukraine continued to struggle with major personnel and ammunition shortages on the front lines and in the face of Russian gains in the east of the country.
Despite Kyiv’s continued efforts to press for more weapons, the European Union has said that it will only be able to supply half of a promised one million artillery pieces by March, with the remainder of the original target
to be delivered by the end of the year, the EU’S top diplomat, Josep Borrell, told reporters after an EU defence ministers meeting in Brussels on January 31.
Frederiksen also called on European countries not to wait for the US to approve financing of supplies to the Ukrainian Armed Forces.
“It doesn’t matter what the US comes up with. We Europeans have to defend ourselves. This is a war on the European continent,” she said.
Denmark is among the major suppliers of weapons to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, with the country promising to transfer 19 of its F-16 fighter jets by the end of the year and as soon as it finishes training Ukrainian pilots.