Cook Islands, Japan, Fukushima, Wastewater, Pacific Ocean

Prime Minister Mark Brown will meet Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo next week in his first mission as part of the Pacific Islands Forum ‘troika’ of leaders, and incoming Chair of the Forum.

PM Brown will speak to a range of issues, but primarily, his visit to Japan will focus on conveying the concerns and requests of Pacific leaders, for the deferral of Japan’s planned discharge of treated nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean.

Prime Minister Mark Brown held a bilateral meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo earlier today, separate to a subsequent meeting he had with PM Kishida as part of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) high-level talks. PM Brown also held bilateral talks with Japan's Ambassador to the Cook Islands resident in New Zealand, Ambassador Koichi Ito, and Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi, in advance of the bilateral meeting with PM Kishida.