Japan’s relationship with NATO is moving beyond broad political dialogue into more “concrete” forms of cooperation across key strategic and security areas, Tokyo’s ambassador to the alliance said in an interview Wednesday.

Following last June’s NATO summit at The Hague, bilateral engagement has entered a more institutionalized phase, Ambassador Osamu Izawa said, highlighting progress made in recent months in defense-industry coordination, emerging technologies and support for Ukraine.

The most significant leap forward, according to Izawa, has been the establishment of a high-level bilateral defense industry cooperation dialogue. The first meeting was held in late October in Brussels, with a second slated to take place in Tokyo later this year that will include senior NATO secretariat officials.

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