Press Conference, 12 June 2007

Visit to Japan by Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen of the Royal Government of Cambodia
Visit to Japan by Sir John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator
Japanese grant assistance for Grass-Roots Human Security Projects in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Questions concerning the Fourth Japan-Palestinian Ministerial Consultation Meeting

I. Visit to Japan by Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen of the Royal Government of Cambodia

Deputy Press Secretary Tomohiko Taniguchi: Good afternoon, thank you very much for coming.

Let me introduce a couple of points at the outset that are about Cambodia, the visit to Japan of the UN Under-Secretary-General, and on Japan's new ODA toward Afghanistan, in that order.

First, from the Kingdom of Cambodia, Mr. Samdech Hun Sen, Prime Minister of the Royal Government of Cambodia, will pay an official visit to Japan from Wednesday, 13 June to Saturday, 16 June. Although he has been to Japan 14 times already, it will be his first time to pay an official visit. The Prime Minister will therefore be received in audience by His Majesty the Emperor of Japan.

Apart from that, what I think is noteworthy goes as follows: number one, after the scheduled meeting between Prime Minister Hun Sen and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, both leaders will issue a joint statement and sign an agreement on investment, which is expected to encourage Japan's direct investment into Cambodia; and number two, Mr. Hun Sen will then fly to Fukuoka, Kyushu, to look around the Fukuoka Agricultural Research Center located near the ancient administrative capital of Dazaifu. The center is actually one of Japan's oldest agricultural research institutions whose history dates back to the year 1879. That is also among Japan's largest, and Prime Minister Hun Sen chose the place himself for his learning of Japanese agricultural technologies.

Also scheduled is his appearance on Thursday, 14 June at Japan National Press Club. He will fly back to Cambodia on Saturday, 16 June.

Cambodia, as part of the CLV (Cambodia, Laos and Viet Nam) region, is an important partner for Japan in its attempt to create the AFP, or Arc of Freedom and Prosperity, and Japan has been the nation's largest donor financially as well as in terms of helping build legal and other institutions in Cambodia.

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II. Visit to Japan by Sir John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator

Mr. Taniguchi: Next, also from Wednesday, 13 June to Saturday, 16 June Sir John Holmes, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator will come to Japan. It will be the first visit to Japan for the ex-UK diplomat since he took his current office back in March this year. In addition to meeting officials at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and some members of the legislative body, Sir John will address a symposium about humanitarian issues of global concern. The Tokyo Foundation Symposium, to be held at 4:30 PM on Friday, 15 June, will be open to the public.

III. Japanese grant assistance for Grass-Roots Human Security Projects in the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan

Mr. Taniguchi: Third, let me say that of late the Government of Japan has decided to extend assistance again toward the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. The new grant assistance for the Grass-Roots Human Security Project amounts to up to 9.28 million yen, and will help support the vocational training project in a region called Chagcharan District of Ghor Province. Notes to this effect were exchanged already yesterday, 11 June, between the two governments.

Let me highlight that in Afghanistan a great number of NATO-led Provincial Reconstruction Teams (PRTs) are at work and that the one led by the Republic of Lithuania operating in the Chagcharan District proposed to the Kabul-based Japan Embassy that the PRT and Japan should work together for that project.

What I think is important is that the Ghor Province is among the least developed areas of the country where, equally, job opportunities are among the least abundant. The assistance will go first to a local Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) called the Sanayee Development Organization, which is named after the nation's outstanding poet Hazrat Hakeem Sanayee, and through that to hiring 10 instructors who will offer a nine-month vocational training course in the areas of clothing, embroidery, masonry, car repair, electric repair and motorcycle repair for 90 women and 65 men.

Another assistance project, amounting to 9.37 million yen, has almost an identical background. That one, grant assistance for Grass-Roots Human Security Projects, is also based on a proposal that first came to us from the Lithuanian PRT, and will go also to the same NGO. The organization, Sanayee Development Organization, will recruit 45 female teachers who will open classes of their own. They will then give literacy instruction for nine months to as many as 900 female participants.

I have introduced the two assistance projects in detail because I thought they pretty much symbolize the fact that Japan's Grass-Roots Human Security assistance is increasingly focused on empowering women, and that NATO-Japan collaborations in Afghanistan are now set in train, gaining steam, just as promised by Minister for Foreign Affairs Taro Aso and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. They are both the kind of projects that Lithuania--an important partner for the creation of Arc of Freedom and Prosperity--and Japan can tackle together, and more broadly, Japan and NATO can work together for.

IV. Questions concerning the Fourth Japan-Palestinian Ministerial Consultation Meeting

Q: The Japanese and Palestinian Foreign Ministers are meeting later this evening. Could you please give us an overview of what the status of Japan's direct assistance to the Palestinian Territories is? How has it been so far?

Mr. Taniguchi: I don't have the exact figure of the amount of assistance given to the Palestinian region from the Japanese Government handy now, but let me say, for the Palestinian Authority (PA) Japan has continued to be the second largest donor, if my memory serves me correctly.

This follows the meeting that the Japanese Government held back in March, inviting (the Israeli) Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres and others from Israel, the Palestinian Authority and (the Government of the Hashemite Kingdom of) Jordan in order to officially kick off the project called the Corridor for Peace and Prosperity.

Both leaders (Foreign Ministers) are going to discuss that issue, obviously, in order for the project to proceed further. You may recall from the Japanese Government Dr. Tatsuo Arima, Special Envoy for the Middle East Peace Process, has been going back and forth many times between the PA and Japan, so it should be an important occasion for both leaders to review what the situation has been like in the Palestinian region. This is also pretty much expected to be an important occasion to push the peace process forward.

Q: Basically the two sides would reaffirm the four-nation initiative agreement in March? This meeting would serve as a way for the two Foreign Ministers to reaffirm their nations' agreement?

Mr. Taniguchi: I really don't think that the proposal of the Corridor for Peace and Prosperity needs further reaffirmation; it's been affirmed and agreed upon already, but it is always important to come back to the agreement so that it will not be lost--so that it would go in smooth sequence, if you like.

Q: Just to clarify, right now Japan's aid to the Palestinian Territories is still ongoing or has it stopped since they had a new Cabinet?

Mr. Taniguchi: What I think is important is to point out that the Japanese Government is trying to engage the newly-formed Cabinet. When the last time was that Japan gave Official Development Assistance to the PA (directly) is something that I should check again myself and come back to you later; I do not have the exact data at hand.

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