MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Britain is set to vote in a June 23 referendum on whether to stay in the 28-nation bloc. Cameron has been campaigning for continued EU membership on renegotiated terms.
"Japanese firms see Britain as the gateway to Europe. That’s why more than 1,300 Japanese companies have a presence here in the UK, employing more than 140,000 people," Cameron said at a joint press briefing with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.
Cameron stressed that Japan mattered "enormously" to the prosperity of the United Kingdom. He said Japan was UK’s second biggest investor after the United States, indicating that a Brexit could make UK economy less attractive to Japanese business.
Cameron said he agreed with Abe that efforts to sign a comprehensive Japan-EU free trade deal must be redoubled. Talks on the EU-Japan Free Trade Agreement were officially launched in March 2013. Britain expects it will bring over $7 billion a year to the UK economy.
