Prime Minister Ishiba to Attend NATO Summit in June; NATO-IP4 Cooperation Expected to Be Discussed

The Yomiuri Shimbun

15:34 JST, May 30, 2025

Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba has decided to attend the North Atlantic Treaty Organization summit to be held in The Hague on June 24 and 25, a senior government official said Thursday.

He has been invited as the leader of one of the member of the Indo-Pacific Four (IP4). This will be the fourth consecutive year for a Japanese Prime Minister to be in attendance.

IP4 consists of Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand, with the other three members also invited to the summit. NATO considers the group as its partner in the Indo-Pacific region.

Raising each country’s defense spending will be a major topic of discussion at the summit, with U.S. President Donald Trump, who has been pressing allies to increase their share of the burden, expected to attend.

At the summit, Ishiba is expected to call on NATO members to promote defense cooperation, saying that the security of the Atlantic and Indo-Pacific regions are inextricably linked. Measures for cooperation between the IP4 members and NATO are also expected to be discussed.

Ishiba is scheduled to meet with Trump during the Group of Seven summit to be held in Canada from June 15-17, and he may also make contact with Trump in the Netherlands.