The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and its four Indo-Pacific partners said Wednesday that they will enhance defense industry cooperation amid a more dangerous and unpredictable global security environment.
“The security of the Euro-Atlantic and Indo-Pacific is interconnected,” NATO, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand said a joint statement issued on the sidelines of a meeting of NATO leaders in The Hague, the Netherlands.
Leaders of the four partner countries were invited to the NATO summit for the fourth consecutive year. Amid tensions in the Middle East, however, the leaders of Japan, South Korea, and Australia skipped the event.
From Japan, Foreign Minister Takeshi Iwaya took part in the summit on behalf of Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba. (PNA)