Japan's foreign minister calls on Britain for smooth exit from EU

0 Comment(s)Print E-mail Xinhua, April 16, 2019
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TOKYO, April 16 (Xinhua) -- Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono on Tuesday expressed his strong hope that Britain's planned departure from the European Union (EU) would be a smooth one and that a "no-deal" Brexit would be avoided.

Kono told British Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt at a meeting in Tokyo that he welcomed the fact that Britain leaving the EU without a deal has been avoided for the time being, after the deadline for Britain to leave the EU was postponed from April 12 to Oct. 31.

Britain and the other 27 EU members agreed last week to postpone the Brexit deadline due to an impasse at the British parliament on the deal British Prime Minister Theresa May had negotiated with the EU.

In their second round of talks in a month, Kono, however, made it clear that Japan hopes the negative impact of Brexit could minimum and that Japanese firms and the broader global economy will not be overly affected.

His remarks echoed that of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe a day earlier, who also expressed his strong hope that disruption to financial markets, Japanese firms and the global economy caused by Brexit would be as minimal as possible.

Hunt, for his part, said Tuesday that Britain was intent on leaving the EU with a deal and not crashing out, which would severely impact businesses and financial markets.

Major Japanese manufactures including Toyota Motor Corp. Nissan Motor Co., and Honda Motor Co. Ltd. all have factories in Britain. Honda's plant in Swindon in the southwest of England has already announced the planned closure of its plant, threatening jobs of 3,500 workers there, while Toyota has warned that its Burnaston plant in central England may suspend operations if Britain leaves the EU without a deal.

Nissan, meanwhile, has already canceled plans to manufacture the new model of the X-Trail sport utility vehicle at its Sunderland plant in England's northeast.

Due to the prolonged Brexit impasse in the British parliament, the Foreign Ministry said that Kono and Hunt agreed that the postponed "two-plus-two" bilateral ministerial security talks that were supposed to be held this month, would be rescheduled. Enditem

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