Right of Reply to Japan on the Importance of the International Rules-based Order and Cooperation among Countries
As delivered by Ambassador Michael Carpenter
to the Permanent Council, Vienna
February 2, 2023
Ambassador Mizuuchi, thank you so much for your statement. We are very fortunate to have you as a partner for cooperation with such extensive experience in our OSCE region.
Japan has been an exceptional and reliable partner at the OSCE. Your contributions, whether here in this room or in the field, particularly in terms of your funding for some of our field missions such as the Dushanbe Border Management Staff College, your current pledges to OSCE programs related to Ukraine, and coming here support to our programs on gender and trafficking in human beings is very, very much appreciated and is very important.
What’s more, thank you for Japan’s broad and unequivocal support to Ukraine. As we just heard from you, as Prime Minister Kishida pointed out in Washington in January, “aggression against Ukraine is not only a European problem but also a challenge to the very rules and principles of the international community.” We couldn’t agree with that any more. Japan’s sanctions and export controls targeting Russia’s war machine – including those that you announced last Friday – increase the cost to Russia, have a real effect on its capacity to wage its war, and show its aggression will not be tolerated at a global level. We support your presence on the G7 which, as you said, will uphold the international order and rule of law. Thank you again, I look forward to working with you, and thanks for your support for the OSCE and for what we stand for.
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