I would like to express my congratulations on the appointment of former Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs Boris Johnson as Prime Minister and the inception of a new British cabinet.

What is required, first and foremost, is for the new cabinet to heal the rifts both within and outside the party, which have deepened since the national referendum of June 2016, and to set forth anew a unified position on Brexit, including future UK-EU relations, which can provide predictability as to the way forward on the issue that has enslaved many businesses including Japanese.

Keidanren has continuously requested as smooth a transition as possible so that Brexit can be delivered without significant disruption or negative ramification. This, we believe, will pave the way for important and solid Japan-UK relations to be further developed.