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TOKYO (Reuters) - British foreign minister Jeremy Hunt reassured Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday that the British government was determined to avoid a no-deal exit from the European Union.

“We recognise that Japan has many investments employing hundreds of thousands of people in the U.K. We want strong cooperation to continue,” Hunt told Abe at the Japanese leader’s residence in Tokyo.

Japan is one of Britain’s biggest foreign investors, building cars and other products in a country it has viewed as a gateway to the broader European market.

Britain’s decision to leave the EU has raised concern in London that Japanese firms will shift operations elsewhere if tariff-free trade ends with the rest of the European bloc.

Hunt is also visiting Toyota Motor Corp, which plans to build a new car model with Suzuki in Britain, during his trip to Japan.