Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he has taken to develop (a) diplomatic and (b) trading relationships with Japan since the referendum on exiting the EU.

Ministers and senior Government officials have been in close contact with the Japanese government and Japanese investors since the referendum in June. I met representatives of Japanese business on 8 September at Asia House. During my visit to Japan on 26-29 September, I met my counterparts in the Japanese Foreign and Defence Ministries, and spoke to individual investors in Tokyo and Osaka. The Prime Minister, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Maidenhead (Mrs May) and Foreign Secretary, my Rt Hon. Friend the Member for Uxbridge and South Ruislip (Boris Johnson) also met their counterparts during the UN General Assembly on 20 September. UK-Japan relations are broad and deep, ranging from trade and investment to security and defence. As we plan our exit from the European Union we will continue to work closely together, strengthening an open and thriving economic partnership.