Japan-Georgia Foreign Ministerial Meeting

March 10, 2009
Japanese

(photo) (photo)

On March 10 (Tue), from 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm, Mr. Hirofumi Nakasone, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, had a meeting with H.E. Mr. Grigol Vashadze, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Georgia, and hosted a dinner for him at Iikura House. The summary of the meeting is as follows. A Joint Press Statement on the Japan-Georgia Foreign Ministerial Meeting was issued after the meeting.

Opening Remarks

At the outset, Mr. Nakasone welcomed Mr. Vashadze’s visit to Japan and, referring to the opening of an Embassy of Japan in Tbilisi in January 2009, expressed Japan’s intention to continuously support Georgia’s efforts for reconstruction and reform after the conflict over South Ossetia in August 2008. In response, Mr. Vashadze expressed his gratitude for Japan’s support and said that it was important to further strengthen Japan-Georgia bilateral relations, given that the Embassy of Japan had opened in Georgia.

Bilateral Relations

(1) Both foreign ministers both expressed their appreciation of the very good relationship between the two countries that has been maintained in both politics and economy.

(2) Mr. Vashadze briefed on Georgia’s efforts for economic reform and expressed his hope that Georgia would receive appropriate cooperation from Japan in infrastructure development and other fields.

(3) Mr. Vashadze also expressed his hope for the cooperation with Japan in culture and science & technology and proposed that the Foreign Ministries of the two countries would hold political consultations on regular basis. Mr. Nakasone welcomed this proposal.

(4) Both foreign ministers also welcomed the promotion of dialogue under the framework of “GUAM - Japan” and agreed to provide further cooperation.

Situation in Georgia

As for the situation of Georgia after the conflict in August 2008, Mr. Nakasone reaffirmed Japan’s stance that it would support a peaceful resolution of this issue based on the principle of territorial integrity and sovereignty of Georgia. In response, Mr. Vashadze expressed his gratitude for Japan’s assistance of up to 200 million dollars announced at the Donors Conference in Brussels last October and also for Japan’s consistent support since the beginning of the conflict.

Cooperation in the International Arena

Mr. Nakasone reaffirmed Japan’s basic stance on the reform of the United Nations Security Council, and Mr. Vashadze expressed his support for Japan’s permanent membership of the UN Security Council. Both foreign ministers agreed to cooperate for early realization of the reform including the expansion of both permanent and non-permanent membership of the UN Security Council.

Lastly, Mr. Vashadze invited Mr. Nakasone to Georgia. Mr. Nakasone thanked him for the invitation and replied that he would like to visit the country if the opportunity allowed.

(END)

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