On Wednesday (22 July 2026), NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte welcomed Japan's Minister of Defence Shinjirō Koizumi to NATO Headquarters in Brussels. They discussed the current security environment, defence industrial cooperation, and support for Ukraine.
Mr Rutte stressed the importance of NATO's partnership with Japan, and discussed the connection between Euro-Atlantic security and security in the Indo-Pacific.
NATO and Japan have been engaged in dialogue and cooperation since initial contacts in the early 1990s. Japan is one of NATO's partners in the Indo-Pacific region, together with Australia, the Republic of Korea and New Zealand. The Indo-Pacific is important for the Alliance, given that developments in that region directly affect Euro-Atlantic security.
