Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi to Attend ASEAN + 3 Foreign Ministers' Meeting, ASEAN Regional Forum, ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conferences, and Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting of Japan, China and the R.O.K. and to Visit Singapore and Myanmar

July 26, 2002

Ms. Yoriko Kawaguchi, Minister for Foreign Affairs, will visit Brunei from July 29 (Mon) to August 2 (Fri) to attend ASEAN +3 (Japan, China and the R.O.K.) Foreign Ministers' Meeting, ARF (ASEAN Regional Forum) and ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conferences. After the Meetings, she will visit Singapore and Myanmar from August 2 (Fri) to 6 (Tue).
In Brunei, Ms. Kawaguchi will attend the ASEAN +3 Foreign Ministers' Meeting to exchange views with other participants on regional political, economic and other issues, and to discuss with them the promotion of East Asian cooperation by means of ASEAN +3 framework, cooperation in dealing with transnational issues such as terrorism, and concrete cooperation for narrowing economic gaps and strengthening the unity within the ASEAN region.
    At the ARF, foreign ministers of 22 countries and one organization will have talks on the political and security situation in the Asia-Pacific Region, and the future direction of the ARF: They will be from the ten ASEAN countries, Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, North Korea, the R.O.K., Mongolia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Russian Federation, the U.S.A. and the European Union.
    At the ASEAN Post-Ministerial Conferences, foreign ministers from 19 countries and one organization (10 ASEAN countries, Australia, Canada, India, Japan, New Zealand, China, the R.O.K., the Russian Federation, the U.S.A. and the European Union) will exchange views on the Middle East situation, regional and international issues such as transnational issues, development issues including narrowing gaps and strengthening unity within the ASEAN region.
    Ms. Kawaguchi will attend the ASEAN +1 meeting to be held between representatives of Japan and ASEAN countries to exchange views on such issues as the present situation and the future direction of cooperative relations between Japan and ASEAN.
    Ms. Kawaguchi will take this opportunity also to have bilateral talks with her counterparts, and the Trilateral Foreign Ministers' Meeting of Japan, China and the R.O.K. agreed upon at the summit meeting of the three countries in November last year.
After the Meetings in Brunei, Ms. Kawaguchi will visit Singapore and Myanmar to have talks with their leaders. In Singapore, Ms. Kawaguchi will discuss Japan-Singapore relations, the regional situation, and other issues. In Myanmar, she will encourage the country toward further democratization while discussing Japan-Myanmar relations.

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