Holding of the East Asian Ministerial Meeting on Caring Societies

18 November 1996

1. Japan will host the East Asian Ministerial Meeting on Caring Societies on December 5 (Thu.) in Ginowan City, Okinawa (Okinawa Convention Center).
   
   
2. The Meeting will be attended by ministerial level representatives of 12 countries, i.e., the seven ASEAN countries ( Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam), Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, China, and the Republic of Korea. Invited as observers will be representatives of the G7 countries (including the European Commission), Australia, New Zealand, India, Pakistan, Russia, the OECD, the South Pacific Forum, the U.N., the WHO, the World Bank, and the Asian Development Bank.
   
   
3. At the Meeting, Japan will announce a national report on social security which summarizes Japan's experiences in such social security fields as medical care, health care and employment. Japan will also invite other countries to express their evaluations of Japan's past international cooperation efforts in these fields, and the share their experiences.
   
   
4. The Meeting is being held as one of the steps to give life to the "Initiative for a Caring World" that Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto proposed at the Lyon Summit Meeting and is planned to enable the participating countries to share information and experiences regarding their respective challenges that they face in the field of social security. The Government of Japan attaches a great importance to the Meeting in that Japan should demonstrate to other countries its positive stance in global efforts to tackle social security problems, which are becoming common concerns.