Press Conference by the Press Secretary 8 October, 1999

1. Announcements on the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) Meeting on Assistance for the Palestinians to be held in Tokyo
2. Announcements on the Joint Invitation Program for Young Leaders of Israel and Palestine
3. Announcement on the joint TV invitation program to cover the Joint Program for the Young Leaders of Israel and Palestine
4. Confirmation of main participants at the Ad Hoc Committee Meeting on Assistance for the Palestinians
5. Japan's position on the return to power in the Republic of India of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)
6. Current status of the hostage situation in the Republic of Kyrgyz
7. Regarding the possible visit to Japan of President Boris Yeltsin of the Russian Federation

1. Announcements on the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) Meeting on Assistance for the Palestinians to be held in Tokyo

   Deputy Press Secretary Chikahito Harada: Good afternoon. Let me start by making three announcements which concern the Middle East. The first announcement is on the Ad Hoc Liaison Committee (AHLC) Meeting on Assistance for the Palestinians. The AHLC Meeting on Assistance for the Palestinians will be held on 14 October and 15 October in Tokyo. Minister for Foreign Affairs Yohei Kono, together with Minister of Foreign Affairs Knut Vollebaek of the Kingdom of Norway, will co-chair this meeting. There will be participants from the Palestinian Authority; President Yasser Arafat will attend the Meeting as the recipient party. The Arab Republic of Egypt, the State of Israel, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and the Republic of Tunisia will be representing the regional parties. Canada, the European Union, the Kingdom of Norway, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, the World Bank, the United Nations and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be representing the international donor community. The AHLC was established by the Multilateral Steering Group of the Multilateral Talks on the Middle East Peace Process in the context of the 1 October 1993 Washington Conference to Support Middle East Peace. The AHLC Meeting has taken place five times before; this is the first time that it is going to take place in Japan. The AHLC has been held mainly to coordinate and promote assisting countries' efforts for the Palestinians and to secure the transparency of the activities of donor and recipient parties. With the background being the fact that the Sharm-el-Sheik Memorandum this September opened the door to the implementation of the Wye Memorandum and the resumption of the finance status negotiations, the forthcoming sixth meeting has specific significance in further ripening opportunities to promote the Palestinian track of the Middle East peace process, by exchanging views on concrete ways of assistance by the international community for the Palestinians. I will touch upon briefly Japan's assistance to the Palestinians. Japan pledged $US200 million at the Washington meeting on Palestinian assistance in November last year. Japan's total disbursal of assistance to the Palestinians since 1993 has amounted to about $US500 million. If we take the period from 1993 to 1998, Japan's contribution occupies 12.7% of total assistance to the Palestinians by the international community, just after the United States, which occupies 13.4%. I hope that this will give you some concrete idea of Japan's assistance to the Palestinians.

   Related Information (Japan-Middle East Relations)
   
2. Announcements on the Joint Invitation Program for Young Leaders of Israel and Palestine

   Mr. Harada: My second announcement concerns the Joint Invitation Program for Young Leaders of Israel and Palestine. Based on the Joint Invitation Program for Young Leaders of Israel and Palestine, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will invite twenty promising young leaders of the Government of the State of Israel and the Palestinian National Authority, ten each from both sides, to introduce them to Japanese politics, economy, society, culture, and history, from 11-20 October. The purpose of this Program is to contribute to promoting peace in the Middle East at the grassroots level, by providing invaluable experience for people who usually do not have contact with each other to work together in the same group. The Program has been operating since 1996 and the forthcoming one will be the fourth. The Government of Japan, as I already explained in the first announcement, will hold an Ad Hoc Liaison Committee this year. In view of this meeting, the Program will have significance in putting them in direct contact with Japan's contributions toward the Middle East peace process.

   Related Information (Japan-Middle East Relations)
   
3. Announcement on the joint TV invitation program to cover the Joint Program for the Young Leaders of Israel and Palestine

   Mr. Harada: My final announcement is on the joint TV invitation program. This directly relates to the second announcement on the Joint Program for Young Leaders of Israel and Palestine. In accordance with the foreign TV team invitation program, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will invite a joint TV team comprising one Israeli and two Palestinians from 11-20 October. The team will visit Japan with this year's members of the Israel and Palestinian Young Leaders Invitation Program, and will cover the significance of the Program and Japan's contribution to the Middle East peace process through the Program. It will also cover the AHLC Meeting to grasp how leaders of Japan and other countries are actively committing themselves to the Middle East peace process. The director of the TV team, who participated in the Young Leaders Invitation Program last year, planned and proposed this TV team invitation on his own initative to produce a TV documentary that will strongly underline the significance of the Young Leaders Invitation Program. As far as I know, that documentary will broadcast on the State of Israel's Channel 2 and on Palestinian Broadcasting.

   Related Information (Japan-Middle East Relations)
   
4. Confirmation of main participants at the Ad Hoc Committee Meeting on Assistance for the Palestinians

   Q: Concerning this issue, I heard that the Israeli Foreign Minister and Mr. Ross of the United States have canceled their visit to Japan to attend the Ad Hoc Meeting. Can you confirm this?

   Mr. Harada: As far as I know, the participant from Israel has not been decided yet, but I heard that Foreign Minister David Levy of the State of Israel might not be able to participate. They are now studying who should attend the meeting from Israel. From the United States, I have Deputy Assistant Secretary for Near Eastern Affairs Toni Vestandig of the Department of State.

   Q: Do you think the absence of the Foreign Minister will affect the outcome of the Meeting?

   Mr. Harada: I would not think that this absence implies that Israel has attached less importance to this Meeting. I believe it is simply because of difficulties in the scheduling of Foreign Minister David Levy. We do not think the significance of this Meeting will be reduced just because of his absence.

   Q: Do you have any confirmation that President Arafat is coming to Tokyo to attend the Meeting?

   Mr. Harada: At this stage, we believe that President Arafat will attend this Meeting.

   Q: Do you have any scheduled meeting for Mr. Arafat with Mr. Kono or Prime Minister Obuchi?

   Mr. Harada: We are still working on the arrangement of the schedule which includes what you suggested. At this stage we have not come to the final arrangements yet, but we are now working on that.

   Q: If I may go back to the Conference, do you have any names of participants from the other countries?

   Mr. Harada: Some of them have not been confirmed. I can introduce some participants already confirmed. From Russia, Director General of the Department of Middle East and North Africa of the Foreign Ministry Alexander Saltanov; from the European Union, EU Special Envoy for the Middle East Peace Process Miguel Angel Moratinos; First Assistant to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Samir Seif El Yazal of the Arab Republic of Egypt; and from Saudi Arabia, Assistant to the delegate member to the Technical Affairs Committee Yousef Bin Ibrahim Al-Bassam of the Saudi Development Fund.

   Related Information (Japan-Middle East Relations)
   
5. Japan's position on the return to power in the Republic of India of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)

   Q: Can you comment on the Indian election which has returned back the BJP back to power. What do you expect from the second Government?

   Mr. Harada: I think the final result of the general election in the Republic of India has not been announced yet, but it seems that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) will maintain the seats which would give them the status of the biggest party in the Parliament. Again it seems that they are going to form a sort of coalition government. On the result of the general election, since this is a internal political issue, I think I should refrain from making a concrete comment. But I can say that Japan would like to maintain and further promote a cooperative relationship with the new Government. In this context, on the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty (CTBT), during the bilateral meeting between former Minister for Foreign Affairs Masahiko Koumura and External Affairs Minister Shri Jaswant Singh of the Republic of India in New York last month, Mr. Singh told Mr. Koumura that, as Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee of the Republic of India said in the United Nations General Assembly last year, India does not intend either to destroy the nuclear proliferation regime or to stand in the way of the early coming into effect of the CTBT. He also said that after the general elections, it was India's wish to move toward participation in the CTBT on the basis of broad consensus. We would like to follow how the new Government of India will respond to the strong desire and expectation of the international community for India to sign and ratify the CTBT, and we will continue to call on them to respond positively to such international appeals.

   Related Information (Japan-India Relations)
   
6. Current status of the hostage situation in the Republic of Kyrgyz

   Q: I heard that you have visited Kyrgyz in regard to the hostage issue. What is your impression about the situation then and then and now?

   Mr. Harada: You are right that I spent one month in the Republic of Kyrgyz. Because of the nature of the task and because of the nature of the incident, I can only say that the Government of Japan and the Government of Kyrgyz have maintained very close contact and exchange of information. Both Governments have worked very hard and will continue to work hard for the early release of the hostages.

   Related Information (Japan-Kyrgyz Republic Relations)
   
7. Regarding the possible visit to Japan of President Boris Yeltsin of the Russian Federation

   Q: Why does Japan insist on President Yeltsin's visit to Japan? If it is so important for the island problem, why does Prime Minister Obuchi not go to Russia and meet President Yeltsin?

   Mr. Harada: You said that Japan insists on President Boris Yeltsin of the Russian Federation's visit to Japan, but that is not the picture. To promote and strengthen our relationship, both sides attach very much importance to the highest-level dialogue. President Yeltsin himself and his Government have repeatedly mentioned that he will visit Japan. Given that situation, I think that the important thing for us is to realize and prepare for President Yeltsin's visit. I do not think at this time that we should talk about Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's visit to Russia because we are working on President Yeltsin's visit to Japan. You said that the issue of the Northern Territories is important to Japan. It is a very important issue; the territorial issue is one of the most important issues to be taken up at the summit meeting, but the bilateral relationship is not only composed of the territorial issue. We have to strengthen and develop the overall relationship. For that purpose the summit meeting is very important.

   Related Information (Japan-Russia Relations)