Press Conference by the Press Secretary 11 June, 1999

1. Statement by Minister for Foreign Affairs Masahiko Koumura on the situation in Kosovo
2. Preliminary data on total Official Development Assistance (ODA) of Japan for 1998
3. Statement of the Government of Japan on the general elections in the Republic of Indonesia
4. Policy of the Government of Japan on levels of Official Development Assistance (ODA) in the future
5. Status of yen loans from Japan to the Islamic Republic of Iran
6. Role of Japan in the implementation of the peace plan in Kosovo
7. Support of Japan for United Nations reforms
8. Response of the Government of Japan to reports on the arrest of 13 Iranian Jews in the Islamic Republic of Iran
9. Agenda items at the Group of Eight (G8) Summit Meeting in Cologne
10. Japan's 21st century plan for the oil producing countries in the Middle East

1. Statement by Minister for Foreign Affairs Masahiko Koumura on the situation in Kosovo

   Deputy Press Secretary Masaki Okada: Good afternoon. First, I would like to read out the statement by Minister for Foreign Affairs Masahiko Koumura on the Kosovo issue. Japan welcomes, as an immense step forward to achieving peace in Kosovo, the adoption with an overwhelming majority of the United Nations Security Council Resolution concerning a political solution to the Kosovo issue. This adoption is a result of the tenacious efforts of the Group of Eight (G8), based on the general principles agreed at the G8 Foreign Ministers' Meeting on 6 May. Japan considers that it is indeed the solidarity of the G8 that has enabled this adoption of the Resolution. Japan strongly urges the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to faithfully implement the Resolution in order to secure the path toward the political solution. It is also important for the countries and international organizations concerned to promptly take actions as required by the Resolution, including the establishment of the international civil and security presences. Japan also urges the Government of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia to cooperate in such undertakings. Japan, as a member of the G8, intends to continue its contribution to the political solution.

2. Preliminary data on total Official Development Assistance (ODA) of Japan for 1998

   Deputy Press Secretary Masaki Okada: I would like to give you some explanation concerning the figures of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) which were announced yesterday by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)/Development Assistance Committee (DAC) Secretariat. Yesterday the DAC Secretariat released preliminary data for the calendar year 1998 ODA from its members. I distributed certain papers on this subject. Concerning Japan's ODA performance, I would like to highlight a few points. First, Japan's ODA increased by 14.2% to US$10.68 billion in the year 1998 while total ODA from DAC member countries rose by 6.8% to US$51.59 billion. Japan is the largest donor for eight consecutive years. The total net resource flows from DAC member countries to aid recipient countries decreased drastically from US$324.7 billion in 1997 to US$181.2 billion in 1998 due to the decrease of private flows, in particular, bank lending to Asian countries. Therefore, ODA increased its relative importance for the financing of developing countries. Second, the aid percentage to GNP was 0.22% for total DAC member countries. The figure was 0.28% for Japan, which is ranked 12th among the 21 DAC member countries. As for the regional distribution of Japan's aid, the share of Asia rose to 61.0%. I should also draw your attention to the 18.8% increase of our aid to Africa. The increase of Japan's ODA volume and its percentage to GNP was the result of its strenuous efforts, despite the difficult economic and budgetary situations. In particular, quick-disbursing loans to countries affected by the Asian economic crisis was reflected in this performance. The net disbursement of government loans increased by 133% last year. These are my preliminary comments on these ODA figures.

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3. Statement of the Government of Japan on the general election in the Republic of Indonesia

   Deputy Press Secretary Masaki Okada: My last topic is concerning the recent election in Indonesia. The Government of Japan welcomes that the election in Indonesia was implemented, in general, freely, fairly and smoothly. The tabulation of the votes is still underway and we strongly hope that the remaining election process until the final confirmation of the election results will be conducted in a fair and sincere manner. We see some media reports criticizing that the tabulation is delayed. However, we think that this delay is not caused by unfair practice, but by merely technical reasons such as careful conduct of counting and tabulation. Japan will continue to pay attention to the counting process. The Japanese Government has made a sizable contribution to the implementation of the election, including grant assistance of about US$35 million and the dispatch of 20 experts for technical assistance. In addition, it sent a government observation mission from 3 to 9 June. We understand that the presence of international observation missions, not only from Japan but from other countries, played a significant role in ensuring fairness and transparency in the implementation of the election. Japan hopes that the election results will be acceptable, both to the Indonesian people and the international community.

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4. Policy of the Government of Japan on levels of Official Development Assistance (ODA) in the future

   Q: Does Japan have a new policy to increase, decrease or maintain the level of ODA in the future?

   Mr. Okada: Concerning the budget for ODA, we are under very severe constraints. Last year the budget for ODA was cut by 10%, but we had three supplementary budgets, in particular, because the situation in Asia was very severe. We needed to contribute some more money for that purpose. However generally speaking, the budget condition is still very severe for us and therefore for the time being there is no prospect of us increasing the budgetary figures for ODA.

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5. Status of yen loans from Japan to the Islamic Republic of Iran

   Q: There is a report by JIJI that says the United States opposes the resumption of loans to Iran. Do you have any confirmation?

   Mr. Okada: We understand that the report relates to the recent visit of Director-General Kihachiro Amae of the Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to the United States. As you know, Japan has been closely exchanging opinions with the officials concerned in the United States Administration on Middle East topics. In this context, Director-General Amae paid a visit to the United States but conducted talks in general with the officials of the Department of State on the Middle East, not on any specific topics. He handled not only Iran, but also Iraq, the Middle East peace process and so on. As for as the yen credit referred to in that JIJI report, Japan extended 38.8 billion yen in May 1993 for the first phase of the project. We are now carefully examining our future involvement in this project, taking into consideration the development of the domestic and external situation of Iran as well as our ODA Charter. We are going to make our own decisions from these considerations.

   Q: Does Japan usually consult with other nations when it wants to provide ODA to certain countries?

   Mr. Okada: It is our Government's decision. However in making decisions, we also have to pay attention to the situations, to the opinions of other countries. That is true, but that is the usual process. However for specific decision making, we do not consult certain governments. Only with recipient governments.

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6. Role of Japan in the implementation of the peace plan in Kosovo

   Q: As Japan is not a NATO member, Japan may be in an isolated position on Kosovo in the upcoming Summit. Are you concerned that Japan is being isolated or is not as closely in touch with the problem as other G7 members regarding Kosovo? What role can Japan play in Kosovo, not being a NATO member?

   Mr. Okada: As for the coming G8 Summit Meeting, nowadays it is not the G7 but the G8 -- Russia is also included. Both Russia and Japan are not members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). We are, for the time being, not a member of the United Nations Security Council as well, but in the context of the joint efforts within the G8, we have been actively participating in the discussion. Also in the near future, as far as this Kosovo issue is concerned, our efforts would be mainly through this G8 process. We are not concerned at all that we cannot play any role in that process. In particular, as Foreign Minister Koumura explained after the end of the G8 Foreign Minister's Meeting, we attach very much importance to the cooperation among the G8 members for the implementation of peace in Kosovo. We think in the decision making mechanism for the civil presence, the countries not members of NATO but which are in a position to participate, will be secured for their participation in the mechanism. We understand that all other G8 members have given their understanding of this idea. We also explained our position that we basically understand that the democratization of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is the precondition for the reconstruction assistance to that country. At the same time, we think that it is also necessary to consider limited humanitarian assistance for the people in the Former Yugoslavia, and we also think it is necessary to consider the possibility of assisting the Republic of Montenegro which is part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia but which is really promoting its own democratization, quite independent from the authority in Belgrade. So this is what we are thinking. As for the assistance to the refugees and neighboring countries for the reconstruction of Kosovo, we have already announced our readiness to actively participate in these activities. A few months ago we made public that we are ready to extend our assistance amounting to US$200 million. About half that amount is for humanitarian assistance including assistance to the neighboring countries. The rest of the amount, about US$100 million, is for the reconstruction.

7. Support of Japan for United Nations reforms

   Q: Foreign Minister Koumura said in the same meeting that an improved and revised role for the UN is necessary. Will Japan push for the improvement of crisis resolution in the UN at the Summit?

   Mr. Okada: We think that the reform and the strengthening of the function of the United Nations is very vital for the international community to tackle this issue of the prevention and solution of conflicts. That is the position Japan has been taking for years. Also, not only this year, but in previous years, this idea has been supported by other G8 members.

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8. Response of the Government of Japan to reports on the arrest of 13 Iranian Jews in the Islamic Republic of Iran

   Q: What is Japan's comment on the arrest of 13 Iranian Jews on spying charges?

   Mr. Okada: We are aware of the media reports concerning the arrest of the 13 Iranian Jews in Iran. Unfortunately, we are still not in a position to give you any official comments because we still have to inquire into the facts for the time being. However generally speaking, in Iran we see rather positive developments in the humanitarian situation after the start of the Administration of President Mohammad Khatami in August 1997. On the other hand, we also see reports such as those of the special envoy of the United Nations Human Rights Commission which point out that the oppression against practitioners of minority religions such as the Bahá'i still continues. However with a view to encouraging reform efforts in Iran, Japan takes every opportunity to appeal to the Government of Iran to continue its cooperation with the United Nations Human Rights Commission and make further efforts to improve the human rights situation in Iran. Those are rather general remarks to your question.

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9. Agenda items at the Group of Eight (G8) Summit Meeting in Cologne

   Q: Could you tell us what else will be on the agenda at the G8 Meeting?

   Mr. Okada: There were five main topics discussed at the G8 Foreign Ministers' Meeting. They were human security, conflict resolution, non-proliferation and disarmament, regional issues, and diplomatic aspects of globalization. As far as I understand, the main focus was on the Kosovo issue. As you know, during the meetings, the Foreign Ministers received the information from the military and technical talks which were going on in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. They received the agreement of both sides and well covered it. The result of the efforts of the G8 Foreign Ministers really bore fruit at the United Nations Security Council as a resolution. I can make some comments on those topics from our viewpoint. First of all, this notion of human security was advocated by Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. We are very happy that this is now our policy goal towards the 21st century, shared by other G8 members. Concerning the prevention and solution of conflicts, as I just mentioned, we attach very much importance to the reform and the strengthening of the function of the United Nations. We can also report that upon the initiative of Germany, in December this year a Foreign Ministers' Meeting will be convened in Berlin to discuss these topics and issues. Concerning non-proliferation and disarmament, in light of the situation after the nuclear testing in India and Pakistan, we agreed to continue to appeal to those countries for their early adherence to the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty (CTBT). In that context, we explained to other ministers the results of the recent visit of Foreign Minister Koumura to Russia that we agreed upon joint activities for disarmament and environmental protection, that means we are going to cooperate with the Russian side to dismantle the old nuclear submarines and so on in Russia. This idea was welcomed by other ministers. Concerning this globalization issue, we are rather pleased that the idea of the social safety net was also agreed upon by other ministers. The promotion of the cooperation on multilateral and bilateral level is also integrated in the final document of the Foreign Ministers' Meeting. Concerning regional issues, we also tried to put a bit more of the Asian perspectives into the discussions of the G8 Meetings. In particular, we discussed the issue of the Korean Peninsula, Indonesia and East Timor. As for the Korean Peninsula, the G8 is also going to appeal to North Korea to take a constructive attitude in the area of security and humanitarian problems. As for Indonesia and East Timor, the G8 welcomed this implementation of the general election and they also expressed the hope that the issue of East Timor will be resolved peacefully. This is what I can explain to you. We think these issues are very important for us.

   Q: When you said that the G8 is going to appeal to North Korea to take a more constructive attitude, do you know the time frame for this appeal?

   Mr. Okada: It is not so concrete an idea, just generally. I can read the relevant sentences of the ministers. "We support the Republic of Korea's policy of engagement with the Democratic People's Republic of Korea and welcome the resumption of South-North Korean dialogue. We continue to support the Agreed Framework and KEDO, and encourage broadened international support for its work. We are concerned at the DPRK's missile test and export of missile technology, and expect it to avoid destabilizing activities. We urge the DPRK to act constructively on security and humanitarian issues." I think this is in essence the appeal to the North Korean side from the G8 Foreign Ministers.

   Q: Do you have such a read-out concerning the Middle East at the level of regional issues that will be discussed at the Summit?

   Mr. Okada: Yes, however it is quite long. I can give you a copy of that. We took up the issue of the Middle East peace process, Iraq and Iran. As far as I understand, the Middle East peace process will also be one of the important agenda items at the G8 Summit Meeting.

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10. Japan's 21st century plan for the oil-producing countries in the Middle East

    Q: Regarding the Middle East, there was also some kind of announcement about Japan's 21st century plan for the oil-producing countries in the Middle East and also on investment programs.

    Mr. Okada: That again is the report of a certain newspaper. We cannot endorse it. We think that the investment in the area of the Middle East is very important for good relations with the oil-producing countries. Nevertheless, we have not been examining such kind of fund. We have never sounded the Saudi Arabian side concerning this idea.

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