Japan-U.S. Aid Coordination in the Pacific Island Countries

September 1, 2012
Japanese

(The Cook Islands) On Friday, August 31 (local time), Mr. Joe Nakano, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, and Ms. Hillary Rodham Clinton, Secretary of State of the United States of America, attended the Post-Forum Dialogue of the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) held in Rarotonga, the Cook Islands.
On this occasion, the two countries issued the Joint Statement on Japan-U.S. Aid Coordination in the Pacific Region (attached), which identifies four areas as priorities for collaborative projects and efforts, namely; 1) disaster management, 2) environmental issues and climate change, 3) overcoming vulnerabilities and promoting human security, and 4) people-to-people exchanges and information sharing.
Japan has been hosting "Pacific Islands Leaders Meetings" with the Pacific island countries every three years since 1997, in order to strengthen its relations with those countries. Meanwhile, the United States has been increasing its engagement in the Pacific region in recent years. In this light, Japan invited the United States for the first time to the Sixth Pacific Island Leaders Meeting in May this year. The two countries expect to promote stability, prosperity and sustainable development in the Pacific region by further enhancing their collaboration.

(*This is a provisional translation. The date indicated above denotes the date of issue of the original press release in Japanese.)

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