[Unofficial Translation] 

I extend my warmest welcome to you, Prime Minister Kishida, on your visit to Korea in a year. After our shuttle diplomacy was resumed in 12 years in March last year, I am pleased to note that we have each made two visits to each other’s country in the course of just over a year. I am especially glad to see you again in Seoul for the ROK-Japan-China Trilateral Summit that is being held in four years and five months.

Over the past year, exchanges at various fields and levels have increased significantly, with our mutual trust as a firm foundation. As we discussed last year in Tokyo in March, and in Vilnius, Lithuania in July, all of the intergovernmental consultative bodies have been put back on track. High-level exchanges in the fields of finance, industry and advanced technology is being continued this year.

In the first quarter of this year alone, three million people have already traveled between our two countries. People-to-people exchanges this year are expected to surpass the previous high of 10.51 million in 2018.

In this regard, I am pleased that the improvement in our bilateral relations is steadily bearing fruit. Building upon these achievements, I am confident that we will be able to make joint efforts to create a historic milestone that will serve to further advance our bilateral relations next year, marking the 60th anniversary of the normalization of ROK-Japan relations.