The Japan Financial Services Agency published a summary of a Cabinet press conference in which Finance Minister Katayama said Japan and the United States had reaffirmed close coordination on financial market developments, including foreign exchange, in response to tensions in the Middle East. He said both sides would continue to work in line with the Japan-US finance ministers' joint statement issued in September last year. The minister also announced plans to establish a working group under the public-private framework on strengthening cybersecurity measures in the financial sector against AI-related threats. The initiative had been proposed at a public-private meeting on AI-related financial sector cybersecurity and received participants' endorsement. The group is intended to bring together the financial industry, IT companies, the government and the Bank of Japan to build a common understanding of risks from more advanced AI and consider responses at working level. Katayama said his talks with US Treasury Secretary Bessent also covered cyber risks from advanced AI and cooperation with allies on critical minerals supply chains ahead of G7 discussions in Paris. He added that Japan and the United States were broadly aligned on the direction of measures such as a price floor or buyers' club for critical minerals, although no agreement had yet been reached, and he declined to comment on Bessent's specific remarks on foreign exchange intervention or on Bank of Japan monetary policy.

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