Policy paper

UK-Japan memorandum of cooperation on people-to-people exchanges

The Foreign Secretary signed a memorandum with the Japanese Foreign Minister Yoko Kamikawa on strengthening the UK and Japan’s people-to-people exchanges.

From:
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and The Rt Hon James Cleverly MP
Published
10 November 2023

Documents

Memorandum of cooperation between the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Ministry for Foreign Affairs of Japan on people-to-people exchanges

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Details

Foreign Secretary James Cleverly and Japanese Foreign Minister Yōko Kamikawa signed the Memorandum of Cooperation at the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tokyo.

People are the foundation of the UK-Japan relationship. The Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC), signed on 7 November 2023 in Tokyo, celebrates, codifies and strengthens people-to-people exchanges between both countries. It fulfils an important commitment in the ‘Hiroshima Accord: An Enhanced UK-Japan Global Strategic Partnership’ agreed by Prime Ministers Rishi Sunak and Fumio Kishida in May 2023.

The Memorandum of Cooperation:

  • strengthens the UK and Japan’s commitment to enhance government, business, intellectual and cultural exchanges
  • endorses greater science, technology and innovation collaboration, and
  • announces a new UK-Japan sustainable urban development partnership

The MoC raises the profile of UK government-run initiatives such as the Chevening Scholarship. It also commits the UK to further promote British Council language teaching and assessment, following an announcement on expanding English language testing in the Tokyo Metropolitan Area.

The MoC also confirms an important commitment for the UK and Japan to expand significantly their respective Youth Mobility and Working Holiday Schemes to 6,000 allocations both ways. This is a 400% increase for the UK scheme. It will allow more young British and Japanese people to access life-changing opportunities in each other’s countries.

Find out more about the Foreign Secretary’s visit to Japan:

Published 10 November 2023