Press Conference by the Press Secretary December 12, 1997

1. Third Conference of the Parties (COP3) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
2. Japan-Russian Federation relations

1. Third Conference of the Parties (COP3) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

   Foreign Ministry Spokesman Nobuaki Tanaka: The two-year-and-eight-month negotiation on the Berlin Mandate has been concluded in Kyoto to produce the Kyoto protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. We welcome that it is adopted with a consensus. It is an historicstep toward the global problem of greenhouse gas emissions. We believe that the Japanese position of differentiation of QELROs, the numerical target, has been vindicated with the result that Japan, the United States and the EC are accepting a six, seven and eight percent reduction, respectively. We did not really reach a consensus on the problem of the developing countries this time. We regretted that. But, in the course of further negotiations leading to the next meeting in November in Argentina, we hope that this problem of the developing countries will be squarely addressed, so that we could come up with a package that would be acceptable to all the parties of the convention. From the Japanese point of view, the result of the six-percent reduction of greenhouse gas emissions is a target that will bring Japan a difficult problem of how to achieve this objective in the future. We really have to strive hard to examine the ramification of this figure, in order to see what we could do about this.

2. Japan-Russian Federation relations

   Q: This week, President Yeltsin made a comment on the position of Japan toward Russia regarding economic and political areas. What comments canyou make about this?

   Spokesman Tanaka: The basic policy toward the Russian Federation is that we should resolve the issue of the Northern Territories, based on the Tokyo Declaration, conclude a peace treaty with Russia, and normalize our bilateral relationship in the fullest sense. At the same time, we also support the reform efforts of Russia, and we would push further forward our cooperation in various fields. These are the policies and they remain unchanged. I believe that what you referred to just now should be interpreted in this context, i.e., in the context that President Boris Yeltsin of the Russian Federation, too, wanted to develop the bilateral relationship on all fronts. Since these are the policies of the two governments, we do not see any divergence of views. As you recall, in Krasnoyarsk, both leaders agreed to make the utmost effort to conclude a peace treaty, based on the Tokyo Declaration, by the year 2000. Based on that, we would work very hard to achieve that goal through the bilateral meetings which are scheduled in the month to come. I suppose that the high-level working group on the peace treaty will be convened some time in January. Then, we hope to welcome President Yeltsin in April of next year. We also scheduled many high-level exchanges, and through these, we would like to achieve these goals.

   These goals mean that we have to approach these questions on two tracks at the same time -- normalization of the bilateral relationship and cooperation on all fronts, including economic fronts. So, we are ready to push forward on all fronts of our bilateral cooperation.