Japan-Germany Summit Talks (Summary and evaluation)
1 June 2008
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda held Japan-Germany Summit Talks for approximately one hour from 17:15 at The Federal Chancellery with Chancellor Angela Merkel of the Federal Republic of Germany on 1 June 2008 (Sunday). The summary and evaluation of the meeting is as follows.
(Points)
- With a view to the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit in July, during the Summit Talks, the leaders held a frank exchange of views on the major topics of the Summit, and this meeting was very useful for building personal relations of trust with Chancellor Merkel.
- The leaders agreed that both Japan and Germany would cooperate and coordinate in order to ensure the success of the Summit.
1. Summary of the Japan-Germany Summit Talks
(1) At the outset, speaking about the bilateral relations, Prime Minister Fukuda stated his view that bilateral relations between Japan and Germany cover a broad spectrum at a high level, and that even greater momentum was imparted to the bilateral relationship through the Hannover Messe that was held in April. In response to this, Chancellor Merkel expressed her congratulations for the success of the Hannover Messe and stated her views that relations between Japan and Germany are extremely good and stated that she would like to work to further strengthen cooperation across a diverse spectrum of sectors.
(2) Prime Minister Fukuda explained that all of the major themes that will be discussed at the G8 Summit including the world economy, environment and climate change, development and Africa, as well as the issue of the steep rise in food prices, are issues that affect both Japan and Germany. Moreover, in order to achieve concrete results on each of those issues and reduce the uncertainty permeating the international economic community, the G8 should issue a concurrent message. Prime Minister Fukuda explained that he intended to host a breakfast meeting together with the leaders of five emerging economies on 9 July regarding the Heiligendamm Dialogue Process that was launched by Chancellor Merkel at last year's G8 Summit. In response to this, Chancellor Merkel expressed that it is also important for the G8 to issue a strong message regarding all of the agenda items that Prime Minister Fukuda had pointed out, and stated that she highly appreciated Japan's efforts in carrying on the Heiligendamm Process.
(3) Regarding the world economy, Prime Minister Fukuda stated that while the world economy continues to face a difficult situation as a result of the steep rise in crude oil prices and other confusions in the international financial market, the G8 must show its determination to address these issues by cooperating internationally for the necessary measures at the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit.
In response to that Chancellor Merkel stated that she shared Prime Minister Fukuda's understanding in this regard, and that regarding financial policies, the discussion at the Summit should take place in a frank manner based on the outcome of the G8 Finance Ministers' Meeting, and that it was important to enhance transparency in financial markets.
(4) Regarding the issue of climate change, Prime Minister Fukuda stated that it is important to positively involve emerging countries such as China and India in any response measures taken, and added that he intended to strive to ensure that the G8 deliver a bold message in this regard, and that he looked forward to cooperating with Germany.
In response to this Chancellor Merkel stated that moving even beyond the agreement that was reached at last year's Heiligendamm Summit to "seriously consider halving global emissions of greenhouse gases by 2050," it is important to advance that even further and that Germany is prepared to cooperate in that regard.
(5) Regarding development and Africa, Prime Minister Fukuda provided Chancellor Merkel with an explanation of various initiatives that Japan announced last week at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development IV (TICAD IV) and explained the outcomes of that conference. Prime Minister Fukuda also stated that he intended to reflect those results in the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit adding that he hoped the G8 will be able to issue a message focusing attention on health, water, and education.
In response to this, Chancellor Merkel stated that she understood that TICAD IV had concluded successfully and she agreed with placing focus on areas such as water.
(6) On the issue of the recent steep rise in food prices, Prime Minister Fukuda explained that he had held talks with African leaders from more than 40 countries and had reaffirmed the seriousness of this issue. Prime Minister Fukuda explained that he would be participating in the Food and Agricultural Organization's High-Level Conference to be held in Rome the day after tomorrow and that he intended to express his views as the Chair of the G8 Summit; he also explained that, based on the results of this high-level conference, he intended to make sure that at the Summit, the G8 issues a powerful joint message on advancing forward the various frameworks being taken in the international community. Furthermore Prime Minister Fukuda explained that from an analysis of the causes of this issue, it is clear that the G8 must unite and take a consistent approach to emergency and short-term responses as well as to implementing medium-to-long-term measures to enhance food production capacity.
In response to this, Chancellor Merkel stated that the production of biofuel must not be allowed to reduce the amount of land allocated for food production, and stated her view that she concurs with the idea that a proper balance must be achieved between the two.
(7) Furthermore, regarding political issues such as non-proliferation, Prime Minister Fukuda stated that he intended to come up with a message that will stress the need to strengthen the non-proliferation regime. Prime Minister Fukuda also stated that he intended to strive to achieve a strengthening of the G8's commitment to peace-building which is one of the major issues facing the international community in such areas as Afghanistan, the Middle East Peace and Sudan. Moreover, Prime Minister Fukuda explained that as a "peace fostering nation," Japan intended to do its utmost to provide assistance for peace building. In response to this Chancellor Merkel stated that she agreed on the need to issue a message strengthening the non-proliferation regime, and also stated that there is a need to discuss the situation in Afghanistan and elsewhere amongst the G8 going forward.
2. Evaluation
As one part of the process of preparing for the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit to take place in July, Prime Minister Fukuda was able to build strong personal relations with Chancellor Merkel, and both leaders were able to confirm that Japan and Germany would cooperate toward the success of the Summit.
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