Meeting and Dinner Meeting between Foreign Minister Gemba and Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations

July 8, 2012
Japanese

(Photo)Meeting and Dinner Meeting between Foreign Minister Gemba and Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, Secretary-General of the United Nations-2

On Sunday, July 8, Mr. Koichiro Gemba, Minister for Foreign Affairs, held a meeting with Mr. Ban Ki-Moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, from 6:35 pm for approximately 45 minutes, and hosted a dinner meeting from 7:35 pm for approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes. An overview of the meetings is as follows:

At the beginning, Minister Gemba welcomed Mr. Ban’s visit to Japan, mentioned the outcomes of the Tokyo Conference on Afghanistan, stated that the Government of Japan would like to cooperate with the United Nations whose roles would be more and more important after the transition, and expressed his respect for Secretary-General Ban’s initiatives concerning the priority issues of his second term. Secretary-General Ban appreciated the initiatives taken by the Government of Japan for hosting the Tokyo Conference, stated that he was pleased to be able to make his sixth visit to Japan as the Secretary-General in the early stage of his second term, and expressed his gratitude for Japan’s contribution to Africa, such as the initiative for hosting the Fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V), while also highly appreciating Japan’s contribution to South Sudan and Haiti.
In terms of the regional situations, both parties exchanged opinions on the strengthening of coordination between Japan and the UN concerning Somalia, Myanmar, North and South Sudan, Timor-Leste, and Libya. Particularly, in terms of North Korea, Minister Gemba stated that concrete actions by North Korea would be required to solve the issue, and added that in order to solve the abduction issue, he would like to cooperate with the UN, including for the UN resolutions on the situation of human rights in North Korea. Moreover, Secretary-General Ban explained his recognition of the situations in Syria.
Concerning the strengthening of the UN, Minister Gemba appreciated initiatives led by Secretary-General Ban for the UN management reforms, and stated that in terms of the UN Security Council reform, he would like to aim for the realization of the reforms in a flexible manner and from a realistic view point.
Secretary-General Ban evaluated that the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) resulted in success thanks to Japan’s leadership, and in response, Minister Gemba stated that in the field of development, Japan prioritizes the mainstreaming of human security and disaster reduction, and added that the Government of Japan will follow up outcomes of the Rio+20. Furthermore, Minister Gemba stated that Japan values the “rule of law” as a universal value and has implemented support for the development of the legal system. Then, Secretary-General stated that in September, for the first time in history, the UN plans to hold the High Level Meeting on the Rule of Law.
In addition, Minister Gemba requested that the Secretary-General participate in the Fifth Non-Proliferation and Disarmament Initiative (NPDI) Ministerial meeting as well as the Sixth CTBT (Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty) Ministerial Meeting scheduled in September, and in the TICAD V scheduled in June 2013.

(*The foregoing is a provisional translation. The date indicated above denotes the date of issue of the original press release in Japanese.)

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