Mr. Seiken Sugiura, Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, to Visit Australia, East Timor, Indonesia and the Philippines

August 23, 2001

Mr. Seiken Sugiura, Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, will visit Australia, East Timor, the Republic of Indonesia and the Republic of the Philippines from August 26 (Sun) to September 4 (Tue).
In Australia Mr. Sugiura will exchange views with key figures of the Government of Australia, including Mr. Alexander Downer, Minister for Foreign Affairs, and Mr. Peter Reith, Minister for Defense, on bilateral relations and regional affairs including Indonesia and East Timor.
Following his visit to Australia, Mr. Sugiura will go to East Timor to observe the Constituent Assembly elections scheduled for August 30 and encourage the electoral observers dispatched by the Government of Japan under the International Peace Cooperation Law. Mr. Sugiura will also meet with Mr. Sergio De Mello, Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), Mr. Jose Ramos-Horta, Cabinet Member for Foreign Affairs of the East Timor Transitional Administration (ETTA), and others, to exchange views on the preparations for and the implementation of the elections, the prospects after the elections, and other issues.
Mr. Sugiura will be the first high-ranking figure of the Government of Japan to visit the Republic of Indonesia after the inauguration of the new Megawati administration. He will exchange views with leading figures of the Government of Indonesia on issues including the policy of the new administration and Japan's policy toward Indonesia.
In the Republic of the Philippines Mr. Sugiura will hold meetings with leading figures of the Philippines and exchange views on wide-ranging issues to further strengthen the close bilateral relations in broad areas such as politics, economics, and people-to-people exchanges as President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has expressed her intention to visit Japan at an early date.

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