×
×
homepage logo

Tokuda, Kiggans lead effort to invite Japanese Prime Minister Kishida to address Congress

By Staff | Feb 29, 2024

WASHINGTON – U.S. Reps. Jill Tokuda (D-HI-02) and Jen Kiggans (R-VA-02) led 44 of their House colleagues in a bipartisan letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives urging him to invite the Prime Minister of Japan, Fumio Kishida, to address a joint meeting of Congress during his upcoming official visit in April 2024.

“For over seven decades, the U.S.-Japan alliance has been the anchor of a free and open Indo-Pacific,” the representatives wrote in the letter. “In this era of strategic competition, our alliance is more important than ever before in preserving regional peace and stability.”

“The invitation for foreign dignitaries to address a joint meeting is one of the rarest honors the Congress reserves,” the letter continues. “Prime Minister Kishida’s upcoming official visit is an opportunity for the Congress to extend that honor and in doing so strengthen the critical U.S.-Japan alliance, emphasize our shared bonds, and demonstrate our enduring commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.”