UK POOL

Tokyo - 31 August 2017

1. Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe walking towards Prime Minister of the UK, Theresa May and shaking hands

2. Theresa May approaching lectern

3. SOUNDBITE (English) Theresa May, Prime Minister of the UK:

"This is a formative period in shaping the future of my country and as we leave the European Union, so I am determined that we will seize the opportunity to become an ever more outward-looking global Britain, deepening our trade relations with old friends and new allies around the world. And there are few places where the opportunities of doing so are greater than Japan, the third largest economy in the world."

4. Cutaway wide of May at lectern

5 . SOUNDBITE (English) Theresa May, Prime Minister of the UK:

"So I am here together with a business delegation representing some of Britain's biggest investors in Japan, because we want to build on that momentum, and because I believe this is a good moment for like-minded partners such as Britain and Japan to be doing more together. For as we become a global Britain, a European nation still, but one that is outside the European Union, so we will be free to engage more actively and independently, particularly in key Asian markets like Japan."

++BLACK FRAMES++

5. SOUNDBITE (English) Theresa May, Prime Minister of the UK:

"So I come to this Forum today seeking to lay the foundations to take our trade an investment relationship to a whole new level as we leave the European Union and I've agreed with Prime Minister Abe that we will develop an ambitious programme of joint working to help achieve this."

++BLACK FRAMES++

6. SOUNDBITE (English) Theresa May, Prime Minister of the UK:

" We will also seek to ensure the freest and most frictionless trade possible between the UK and the EU and this includes the imperative of a smooth and orderly transition for people and businesses in the UK and in Japan in the remaining 27 member states and for all our partners around the world. Through all these steps, we will ensure the greatest possible confidence in our economy and we will build the closest, freest trading relationship between our two countries for when the UK leaves the European Union."

7. May shaking hands with Abe and sitting down

8. Close of May

9. Close of Abe

10. Various of exchange of the memorandum of co-operation which was agreed and signed in the presence of Prime Minister May and Prime Minister Abe being exchanged on stage

11. Leaders leaving the stage

UK's Prime Minister Theresa May told a business forum that Japan was one of the key trading opportunities for trade after Brexit.

Speaking in Tokyo on Thursday, the Prime Minister said that this is a formative period in shaping the future of the United Kingdom as it leaves the European Union.

"I am determined that we will seize the opportunity to become an ever more outward-looking global Britain, deepening our trade relations with old friends and new allies around the world," May said.

"And there are few places where the opportunities of doing so are greater than Japan, the third largest economy in the world," she said.

The British leader is on the second day of a three-day visit to Japan that is expected to focus on Brexit, trade and security.

She will spend Thursday in Tokyo for a series of meetings and visits.

May and Abe also met Wednesday after her arrival in Kyoto.