Press Conference by the Press Secretary 2 April, 1999

1. Assistance from Japan to the Kosovo refugees and displaced persons
2. Visit to Japan of President Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority from 7 to 8 April
3. Response of Japan to the situation in Kosovo
4. Support of Japan for the Middle Eastern peace process
5. Visit to Japan of Minister of Commerce Osama-bin Jaafer Faqih of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
6. Response of the Government of Japan to initiatives of the Russian Federation regarding Kosovo

1. Assistance from Japan to the Kosovo refugees and displaced persons

   Deputy Press Secretary Masaki Okada: Good afternoon. First, I would like to brief you on two new statements released from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The first one is concerning Japanese assistance to Kosovo refugees and displaced persons. In the province of Kosovo, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslav military and Serbian security forces have been attacking ethnic Albanians extensively and systematically. It is reported that more than 100,000 refugees have newly-fled to neighboring countries in only the past few days. Japan views the rapid deterioration of the humanitarian situation in Kosovo with grave concern. Japan recognizes that it is the responsibility of the international community to quickly respond to this critical situation, and strongly supports the activities of the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and UN-related and other organizations which have been assisting the refugees and displaced persons in such a situation. From such a viewpoint, Japan has decided to extend assistance of US$ 15 million through the UNHCR and other organizations for the refugees and displaced persons in and around Kosovo. Specifically, we are going to donate in total US$ 12.5 million to the UNHCR and US$ 1.45 million to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and US$ 1 million to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). As has already been announced, the Government of Japan is now also exploring the possibility of providing the UNHCR with 1,000 tents as assistance in kind based on the International Peace Cooperation Law. We now calculate that the expense included in this dispatch of 1,000 tents amounts to 130 million yen, that is about US$ 1.1 million. As a result of this new assistance, Japan's assistance to the refugees and displaced persons in and around Kosovo, except for these tents, comes to a total of about US$ 25 million, including that extended already last year. This is the first topic.

2. Visit to Japan of President Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority from 7 to 8 April

   Deputy Press Secretary Masaki Okada: The second topic will be the visit of President Yasser Arafat of the Palestinian Authority, and Chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), to Japan. President Arafat will visit Japan from 7 to 8 April 1999, at the invitation of the Government of Japan. He will be accompanied by Secretary Abu Mazen of the Executive Committee of the PLO and Minister of Local Government Saeb Iriqat and others. As Minister for Foreign Affairs Masahiko Koumura expressed during his visit to the Middle Eastern countries in January, Japan intends to contribute to the Middle Eastern peace process, not only through economic cooperation, but also through our enhanced political contribution. Last March, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Nobutaka Machimura also visited several Middle Eastern countries and exchanged opinions with the people concerned. Last week, Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara of Syria came to Japan and we deepened our discussion concerning, in particular, the Syria track and the Lebanon track. As you already know, not only President Arafat, but also President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt is coming to Japan this April. President Arafat is going to hold talks with Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and Foreign Minister Koumura. The main topics on the agenda will be the Middle Eastern peace process, in particular, the interim self-government period which terminates on 4 May. Therefore, we are going to talk about future measures on how we should coordinate this termination of the self-government period. President Mubarak is going to visit Japan from 11 to 13 April, and have talks with Prime Minister Obuchi. We are going to have a rather wide-range of agenda items, including bilateral relations and the Middle Eastern peace process and other regional affairs. I would also like to add that in the following days we will have, while at a lower level, a consultation with Israeli officials. Director-General Kishichiro Amae of the Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau is going to have consultations on 14 April with Deputy-Director Shelef, Department for Asia and the Pacific, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Israel. We are going to talk about, in particular, the Middle Eastern peace process and bilateral and international topics. This is what we have been doing at this time concerning the Middle Eastern peace process. You can understand the enhanced efforts we are now making.

   Related Information (Japan-Middle East Relations)
   
3. Response of Japan to the situation in Kosovo

   Q: Is Japan prepared to support ground troop actions against Yugoslavia in Kosovo in case that happens?

   Mr. Okada: For the time being, there is no such real idea to put North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) ground troops into Kosovo. We think that the air strike now being undertaken by the NATO force was really triggered by the understanding that this was a rather inevitable action on the side of NATO in face of the human disaster in that area. We hope that this Kosovo problem will be solved as soon as possible through the acceptance by President Slobodan Milosevic of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia of the peace proposal for Kosovo. We do hope that further measures will not be necessary on the side of NATO. That is our hope and wish.

   Q: Now it seems that NATO is escalating its attack on Yugoslavian or Serbian targets. Is Japan satisfied with the development of the situation there?

   Mr. Okada: We are paying very careful attention to the situation. NATO is still on the so-called second phase and has not yet entered the third phase. We hope that NATO does not find it necessary to go further to the enhanced stage. That is our wish. It mainly depends on the reaction from the Yugoslavian side. Therefore, we would like to ask President Milosevic to seriously see the present situation and accept the peace proposal in Kosovo as soon as possible.

4. Support of Japan for the Middle Eastern peace process

   Q: Concerning visits by Middle Eastern leaders, you mentioned that you will discuss with Mr. Arafat the situation after the termination of the self-rule. Does Japan have any proposals or specific arrangements for this situation?

   Mr. Okada: First of all, I would like to restate our basic position. In principle, we accept the self-determination of the Palestinian people, including the establishment of their own state. However, as far as the ways and means to really realize this basic principle, we have been urging the Palestinian side to undertake negotiations with the Israelis. We still think it is very necessary that the unilateral declaration is avoided and the establishment of a state or independence of the Palestinians will be realized through negotiation with the Israeli side. However, we do not think it is very wise to ask only endurance and patience from the Palestinian side. Therefore, taking into account the recent developments and recent ideas from many countries, we would like to exchange opinions with President Arafat when he comes to Japan.

   Related Information (Japan-Middle East Relations)
   
5. Visit to Japan of Minister of Commerce Osama bin-Jaafer Faqih of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia

   Q: I think the Saudi trade minister is currently visiting Japan. Do you have any information about these talks and what the objectives are?

   Mr. Okada: The objective of the visit of Minister of Commerce Osama bin-Jaafer Faqih of Saudi Arabia was very clear. He came to Japan with a Saudi delegation to consult with the Japanese side about Saudi Arabia's accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO). As you might know, Saudi Arabia already submitted its application for accession to WTO in 1993. We have been discussing this issue within the context of the WTO in Geneva, but have still not come to any conclusion. Japan supports the early accession of Saudi Arabia to WTO. On the other hand, we have to clarify many technical or somewhat substantial economic problems before we decide on the accession of Saudi Arabia to WTO. This time we have discussed a very wide-range of topics related to the Saudi Arabian accession to WTO. The Japanese side highly appreciates the explanation given by the Saudi Arabian delegation. We really deepened our understanding of the Saudi Arabian situation concerning their problems related to accession to WTO. Japan expressed especially its readiness to assist Saudi Arabia in its efforts to adhere to the WTO through, for example, technical assistance such as dispatching some experts to Saudi Arabia. Japan does not think it is appropriate to demand obligations of Saudi Arabia, in addition to the requirements under the WTO agreements. Anyhow, Saudi Arabia must make all the necessary preparations so that Saudi Arabia is really in a position to be a member of WTO. For that purpose, we still have many things to discuss. That is what we have been doing. They had meetings with the Japanese delegation headed by Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Kouichi Haraguchi the whole day yesterday and this morning. They already concluded the consultation. This afternoon, individual members are going to different ministries and continue their consultations with the persons concerned.

   Q: Did the Japanese side raise the issue of the Arabian oil company?

   Mr. Okada: We have not discussed that. We just discussed this WTO issue. This afternoon, Minister of Commerce Faqih will pay a courtesy call to Foreign Minister Koumura from 14:30. You could pay attention to that.

   Related Information (Japan-Saudi Arabia Relations)
   
6. Response of the Government of Japan to initiatives of the Russian Federation regarding Kosovo

   Q: I read yesterday that the Russian Foreign Minister asked Japan to oppose the attack by NATO. Could you please confirm that and what was the Japanese response?

   Mr. Okada: As for the NATO air raid itself, we expressed our understanding when it started. Quite recently, we understand that President Boris Yeltsin of Russia has an idea to convene an urgent Group of Eight (G8) Foreign Ministers' meeting. Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Grigory Karasin of Russia, who is now in Tokyo for the bilateral talks with Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Minoru Tanba, made a courtesy call to Foreign Minister Koumura, and then transmitted the message to him from President Yeltsin. President Yeltsin's message was that he found it necessary to convene a G8 Foreign Ministers' meeting with a view to stopping this air strike by NATO. We also heard a message from Foreign Minister Igov Ivanov of Russia asking Foreign Minister Koumura to support the Russian idea to convene this meeting. The reaction of our ministers to them was the following. We really appreciate the efforts by the Russian side including this new initiative, but we think taking into account the reactions of the United States and European countries, we rather see it as very difficult to reach a consensus on convening a G8 Foreign Ministers' meeting. That is our reaction to this Russian initiative.