Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s Prime Minister, said on Thursday that he wants to lead the development of international norms for next-generation communications and set up Indo-Pacific digital networks, as part of a deep and aggressive post-COVID agenda.
Suga also reiterated hopes to extend the Trans-Pacific Partnership and pledged to step up efforts to provide equal access to vaccines in a speech at Nikkei’s Future of Asia meeting, which was held in Tokyo and streamed live online through Friday.
“We will work on research and development for the 5G and 6G era, and take the lead in creating international rules for telecommunication standards,” said Suga. “To further develop a free and open digital space in the Indo-Pacific, we have been working on the development of legal systems, infrastructure and human resources.”
Suga listed projects including a customs clearance IT system in Vietnam and a training facility in Thailand for government agencies and major infrastructure companies in Southeast Asia. These efforts come at a time when Japan is preparing to host the next edition of the Olympics after it was postponed last year.
