Japan-Ukraine Summit Meeting
(Summary)
July 22, 2005
On July 21, 2005, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi held a summit meeting with President of Ukraine Victor Yushchenko.
Following the meeting, the two leaders signed the Joint Statement on a New Partnership in the 21st century between Japan and Ukraine, and the documents on conclusion of bilateral negotiations for the accession of Ukraine to the World Trade Organization (WTO), and issued the Joint Press Statement on the cooperation between Japan and Ukraine in the Field of Science and Technology. The two leaders also made joint press remarks after the ceremony was held on the return of a Rising Sun Flag possessed by an Imperial Japanese Army officer, which had been kept in the National Museum of the Great patriotic War in Ukraine. The following is a summary of the meeting.
(1) Bilateral Cooperation
| (a) | Prime Minister Koizumi highly valued Ukraine's endeavor toward democratization through the Ukraine's "Orange Revolution" as well as the leadership of President Yushchenko. Prime Minister Koizumi stated that Japan would do all it could to assist the consolidation of democracy and the development of market economy in Ukraine. Prime Minister Koizumi also stressed the importance of improving the investment environment in Ukraine and promoting accession to the WTO, and welcomed the conclusion of the bilateral negotiations between Japan and Ukraine on the accession of Ukraine to the WTO. Prime Minister Koizumi stated that it was necessary to establish the Japan-Ukraine Cooperation Committee at the Ministerial level with a view to making progress on concrete issues for cooperation through consultation. |
| (b) | In response, President Yushchenko stated that democratization and economic reforms, including privatization and land reform, were being promoted in Ukraine and that it is important to establish investment rules in order to realize Ukraine's true economic potential. President Yushchenko also stated that the legislation required for accession to the WTO was now largely in place in Ukraine and that he had given directions to establish an agency that would engage in the promotion of investment. President Yushchenko stated that the objective of his visit to Japan was to invigorate political dialogue between Ukraine and Japan and expressed his gratitude to Prime Minister Koizumi for his proposal to establish the Japan-Ukraine Cooperation Committee at the Ministerial level. |
| (c) | The specific areas identified by President Yushchenko for bilateral cooperation include the following: expansion of export credit from Japan; development of Ukraine's transport infrastructure through Official Development Assistance (ODA); cooperation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions under the Kyoto Protocol and in the area of environmental protection; and cooperation in the air and space industry. |
| (d) | Prime Minister Koizumi responded that the various areas pointed out by President Yushchenko include those that require efforts to be taken by the governments of each country as well as by the private sector, and therefore, it would be necessary to use the Cooperation Committee to consult on the degree to which cooperation should be implemented by the governments and what should be left to the private sector. |
(2) International Issues
Prime Minister Koizumi expressed his appreciation for Ukraine becoming one of the co-sponsors of the draft framework resolution on reform of the Security Council of the United Nations. Prime Minister Koizumi also stated that Japan is the only country ever to have been subject to a nuclear attack, and that the Japanese people including himself felt a strong sense of solidarity with Ukraine, which experienced the nuclear accident at Chernobyl, thereafter deciding to voluntarily eliminate its nuclear weapons and acceding to the Nuclear Non-proliferation Treaty (NPT) as a non-nuclear state.
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