THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
September 9, 2023 at 16:00 JST
Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi listens as his Polish counterpart, Zbigniew Rau, addresses the media following their talks on regional security and support for Ukraine at Poland’s Foreign Ministry in Warsaw on Sept. 8. (AP Photo)
Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, accompanied by business leaders, is visiting Ukraine on Saturday for talks with his counterpart to show support for the war-torn country and emphasize Japan’s backing of sanctions against Russia.
Hayashi, who had been on a tour of the Middle East and Poland earlier this week, was to meet with Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba in Kyiv. This is his first visit since the war began over a year ago.
His visit comes six months after rime Minister Fumio Kishida’s trip to Ukraine.
Hayashi is also set to visit Bucha, one of the hardest-hit towns on the outskirts of Kyiv.
Hayashi will convey Japan’s determination to support Ukraine’s economic recovery and reconstruction from the damages of war “from a uniquely Japanese perspective” through cooperation between the public and private sectors, according to a Japanese Foreign Ministry official.
Tokyo plans to host a Japan-Ukraine conference aimed at economic reconstruction of the war-ravaged country around the end of this year or early next year.
The foreign minister brought a delegation of Japanese business representatives that included Rakuten Group CEO Hiroshi Mikitani and Teppei Sakano, president of a medical equipment maker Allm Co.
The business delegation aims to assess the situation in Ukraine on the ground and communicate with the Ukrainian side about its reconstruction needs, the ministry said.
Japan donated more than $7 billion to Ukraine, mostly for humanitarian assistance, and military equipment limited to non-lethal weapons because of constraints imposed by its pacifist Constitution.
Kishida visited Ukraine in late March, as the last Group of Seven leader to do so ahead of the summit in May he hosted in Hiroshima, where Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s last-minute appearance dominated attention.
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