Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi and her Italian counterpart Giorgia Meloni agreed Friday to cooperate in strengthening economic security including supply chains of critical minerals as they aligned their nations more closely in the face of China’s growing clout.
The two countries upgraded their “strategic partnership” to a “special strategic partnership” to boost ties in “all sectors” including security and culture, Takaichi and Meloni said in a joint statement released after their meeting in Tokyo.
The leaders “shared grave concern for all forms of economic coercion and for use of nonmarket policies and practices and use of export restrictions which disrupt global supply chains for key goods and components,” they said, in an apparent reference to China.
Japan and Italy will also establish a consultative body to promote cooperation in space technology and will advance collaboration in areas such as artificial-intelligence robotics and semiconductors, the statement said.
