Tokyo: Shigeru Ishiba, the Prime Minister of Japan, has cancelled his June 24-26 visit to Netherlands to attend the NATO Summit, the country's Foreign Ministry announced on Monday. 

"Prime Minister's visit to The Hague in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, which was scheduled for June 24-26 to attend the NATO Summit, has been cancelled due to various circumstances," read a statement issued by the Japanese Foreign Ministry.

It mentioned that Japan's Foreign Affairs Minister Takeshi Iwaya will instead visit the Kingdom of the Netherlands to attend events related to the NATO Summit and also use the opportunity to hold bilateral meetings with various countries, including the G7, to discuss current important international issues.

Last week, Tokyo had announced that Ishiba will be visiting The Hague, which would be the fourth consecutive year that a Japanese Prime Minister will attend the NATO Summit, since Japan was first invited in 2022.

"At this meeting, taking into account the current severe security environment, Japan intends to hold discussions on specific modalities for cooperation between NATO and Indo-Pacific partners, including Japan, based on the common recognition that security in the Euro-Atlantic and the Indo-Pacific regions is inseparable," the Japanese Foreign Ministry had stated.

At the Summit, NATO allies are expected to take decisions to make the 32-member alliance stronger, fairer and "more lethal".

"We live in a more dangerous world, and this is a critical moment for our security. Allies are coming together to reinforce their cooperation and their commitment to NATO," the bloc insisted ahead of the crucial meeting.

At the summit, NATO leaders will address a variety of issues facing the alliance. They will focus on deterrence and defence, ensuring that NATO has the resources, forces and capabilities to face any threat.

During her visit to the international Paris Air Show at Le Bourget last week, NATO Deputy Secretary General Radmila Shekerinska met leading allied industry representatives and previewed the priorities of the Summit in The Hague, where Allies are expected to agree a new defence investment plan that raises defence spending commitments to levels not seen in decades, reflecting the challenging security environment and taking into account the Capability Targets agreed by NATO Defence Ministers on June 5, 2025. (IANS)