Press Conference 17 June 2005
- Japan-Republic of Korea (ROK) Summit Meeting
- Telephone conversation between Minister for Foreign Affairs Nobutaka Machimura and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice of the United States of America
- Upcoming visit to Japan by Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
- Information on Japan's school textbook examination procedure on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website
- Grant assistance to the Republic of The Gambia
- Guests and national/special days of the 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, Japan (18 - 24 June)
- Follow-up questions concerning Prime Minister Zia's visit
- Follow-up questions concerning Japan-ROK Summit Meeting
- Question concerning reform of the United Nations (UN)
- Question concerning Japan-ROK relations
- Question concerning possible meeting between Foreign Minister Machimura and US Secretary of State Rice
- Japan-Republic of Korea (ROK) Summit Meeting
Press Secretary Hatsuhisa Takashima: Good afternoon and thank you very much for coming to the briefing. Today, I would like to make several announcements before I take questions.
First, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi will visit the Republic of Korea (ROK) from 20 to 21 June. Prime Minister Koizumi will have a meeting with President Roh Moo Hyun of the ROK in Seoul on 20 June to discuss various issues including bilateral and international matters. Minister for Foreign Affairs Nobutaka Machimura will accompany the Prime Minister.
- Telephone conversation between Minister for Foreign Affairs Nobutaka Machimura and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice of the United States of America
Mr. Takashima: Secondly, Foreign Minister Machimura received a telephone call last night from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice of the United States of America (US) in which he was given a full explanation of the new US policy on United Nations (UN) reform. At the end of the telephone conversation, Foreign Minister Machimura expressed appreciation for the thorough explanation from Secretary Rice and for US support on Japan's candidature for permanent seat of the Security Council of the UN.
- Upcoming visit to Japan by Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia of the People's Republic of Bangladesh
Mr. Takashima: Thirdly, Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia of the People's Republic of Bangladesh will visit Japan from 12 to 15 July at the invitation of the Government of Japan. During her stay, Prime Minister Zia will have an audience with His Majesty the Emperor and also attend the meeting with Prime Minister Koizumi. Prime Minister Koizumi is scheduled to host a dinner for her. This visit will further strengthen the friendly relations between Japan and Bangladesh, and the Government of Japan welcomes Prime Minister Zia's visit wholeheartedly.
- Information on Japan's school textbook examination procedure on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website
Mr. Takashima: The next announcement is about the Ministry of Foreign Affairs website.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has uploaded on its website, both in Japanese and in English, new pages on Japan's school textbook examination procedure, including explanation on the objectives and outline of the textbook examination standards. We will make Korean and Chinese versions of these pages available shortly. I strongly hope that this website in various languages will help many people understand the true nature of the Japanese textbook examination system.
The English version is available on the following site:
http://www.mofa.go.jp/policy/education/textbooks/index.html - Grant assistance to the Republic of The Gambia
Mr. Takashima: The next announcement is about Japan's grant assistance.
The Government of Japan today decided to provide a grant assistance of 256 million yen or US$2.34 million to the western African nation of the Republic of The Gambia for the drinking water supply program. That includes the construction of wells and a water distribution system. With this program, 80,000 people living in Gambia's 29 villages will be provided with safe drinking water that will reduce the risk of diseases and give opportunity for people, especially women and children, to have education and employment.
- Guests and national/special days of the 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, Japan (18 - 24 June)
Mr. Takashima: Lastly, I would like to give the list of foreign dignitaries to attend the World Exposition next week.
The following guests and national day events are expected during the period of 18 to 24 June in connection with the 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, Japan.
Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings of the United States of America will visit Japan from 19 to 21 June to attend the National Day event on 20 June at the Expo site. Minister of Commerce Luc Magloire Mbarga Atangana of the Republic of Cameroon will visit Japan from 18 to 22 June to attend the National Day event on 21 June. Prime Minister Laisenia Qarase of the Republic of Fiji Islands will visit Japan from 20 to 25 June to attend the National Day event on 22 June. Prime Minister Mohamed Ghannouchi of the Republic of Tunisia will visit Japan from 20 to 24 June to attend the National Day event on 23 June. Lastly, Prime Minister Jiri Paroubek of the Czech Republic will visit Japan from 22 to 26 June to attend the National Day event on 24 June.
The Government of Japan is pleased to welcome the dignitaries who will visit Japan as Guests of the 2005 World Exposition, Aichi, Japan to attend their own national day event to be held at the Expo site.
- Follow-up questions concerning Prime Minister Zia's visit
Q: During the recent visit of Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Ichiro Aisawa to Bangladesh, the Japanese side requested Bangladesh to be a joint sponsor of the draft proposal to the UN on behalf of the Group of Four (G4) countries. The response of Bangladesh is still not clear. Is this topic once again going to be on the table during Prime Minister Zia's visit? Is Japan going to request Bangladesh to be a joint sponsor of the draft proposal to the UN on behalf of the G4 countries?
Mr. Takashima: I would expect that the issue of UN reform will certainly come up as one of the main agenda items of the talks between Prime Minister Koizumi and Prime Minister Zia. UN reform is currently the number one foreign affairs issue so far as Japan is concerned. Japan is promoting the idea of expanding the Security Council along with other members of the G4 in both permanent members and non-permanent members. We are drafting the resolution on this, and we recently made adjustments or some changes to the wording and the content of the draft resolution. Therefore, these changes will also be discussed. I would not be surprised if further request is made from Japan to Bangladesh to become a cosponsor of this resolution when it is actually being tabled at the General Assembly of the UN.
Q: What are the issues that are going to be focused on at the Japan-Bangladesh summit meeting?
Mr. Takashima: We expect that UN reform would be one of the agenda items. In addition to that, Japan's economic assistance to Bangladesh will certainly come up. At the same time, we expect that training of Bangladeshi workers in Japan will be one of the agenda items to be discussed between Prime Minister Koizumi and Prime Minister Zia. Moreover, there will be a wide range of discussions, and certainly the international situation, especially the situation in southwest Asia, would be one of the major subjects to be discussed.
- Follow-up questions concerning Japan-ROK Summit Meeting
Q: Regarding Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to the ROK, are there any side programs scheduled other than the summit meeting with the ROK President? Will any visits or events be taking place?
Mr. Takashima: I would expect that there would be a dinner meeting hosted by President Roh Moo Hyun, but other than that I do not have the schedule of any side events.
Q: Related to this, obviously the relations between the two countries are at a lower web than many people would expect. Do you have any particular agenda that may improve the relations through this visit? Are there any issues or agenda items to be discussed between the two leaders?
Mr. Takashima: Prime Minister Koizumi has already proposed some measures to be taken in the direction of improving the bilateral relations between our two countries. Also, Foreign Minister Machimura made a concrete proposal during his meeting with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Ban Ki-Moon of the ROK when he met with him in Islamabad and also in Kyoto recently. At the meetings, we proposed to accelerate the effort to recover and return the remains of Korean workers that are stored in Japan or some special measures to be taken for the victims of the atomic bomb residing in the ROK, among others. These are issues that will be further explored between the two leaders. Also, there will be a general discussion on the state of bilateral relations, and also the international situation surrounding Japan and the ROK will be discussed. Through these discussions, we sincerely hope that there would be better and deeper mutual understanding between the two leaders and that they would become another stepping stone for the betterment of relations.
- Question concerning reform of the United Nations (UN)
Q: On UN reform, could you confirm the information that the members of the G4-Japan, the Federative Republic of Brazil, the Federal Republic of Germany and the Republic of India-plan to hold a foreign ministers' meeting on 22 June in Brussels on the sidelines of the donor conference for the reconstruction of Iraq?
Mr. Takashima: A discussion is going on, but no final decision has been made yet. If it is possible and if Foreign Minister Machimura can go to Brussels to attend the International Conference on Iraq and if other members of the G4 will also attend, then we would like to see the meeting of the four foreign ministers be taken place but it remains to be seen.
- Question concerning Japan-ROK relations
Q: This year is the Japan-Korea Friendship Year 2005, and the situation does not look so good. Does the Foreign Ministry have any plans to improve this situation in this year?
Mr. Takashima: Actually there are many events which were originally scheduled to take place in conjunction with the Friendship Year which have actually been implemented or will be held as scheduled. There were some events which have been canceled, but those cases are very few in number and I would say with very small magnitude. Therefore, we believe that the Friendship Year events have been carried out very successfully so far, and we hope that everything would be done in a manner as originally arranged and as scheduled.
It is true that there have been some setbacks in the relations between Japan and the ROK, but events like the meeting between Prime Minister Koizumi and President Roh Moo Hyun being scheduled to be held would prove that at the bottom line things are moving as scheduled. Japan and the ROK are neighbors and their relations are becoming better and deeper.
- Question concerning possible meeting between Foreign Minister Machimura and US Secretary of State Rice
Q: We believe that Foreign Minister Machimura and US Secretary of State Rice plan to hold a meeting next week somewhere in Europe. Could you tell us up to this point which is more likely, in London or Brussels?
Mr. Takashima: Again, if it is so arranged, then Foreign Minister Machimura will visit Europe to attend the International Conference on Iraq and the G8 Foreign Ministers' Meeting to be held in London. On that occasion and if the arrangement is made, then he hopes that he would be able to meet with Secretary of State Rice. The venue has not been decided yet, and nothing concrete has come out yet.
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