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)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)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)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)Japan'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)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)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)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)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)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)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)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)
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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)
BRUSSELS – 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.
“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.
“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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