Japanese PM due on July 10

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe is scheduled to make an official visit to Finland on July 10, said an official press release.

President Sauli Niinistö and First Lady Jenni Haukio will accord a reception to the visiting Prime Minister Shinzō Abe and his spouse Akie Abe at the Presidential Palace on their arrival.

The programme of the visit will include a private discussion between the president and the prime minister as well as talks with a larger delegation.

The topics will include the political and economic relations between Finland and Japan and topical international issues.

Abe will travel to Finland with a high-level delegation. The visit will conclude with a luncheon attended by a large group of Finns representing different spheres of the Finnish society.

On his official visit to Japan in March 2016, President Niinistö had the opportunity of meeting Prime Minister Abe.

The previous state visit from Japan at this level took place in autumn 2006, when the then prime minister Junichiro Koizumi visited Finland. Emperor Akihito came to Finland on a state visit in May 2000.

This is the first time Abe will visit the Nordic countries in his role as prime minister. Abe has visited Finland once before in 1985 when he was serving as a personal assistant to his father, minister for foreign affairs, Shintaro Abe.