Ms. Yoriko Kawaguchi, Minister for Foreign Affairs, to Attend the Ministerial Meeting of the International Conference on Reconstruction in Iraq, and to Visit Egypt and Tunisia

October 21, 2003

From October 23 (Thu) to 25 (Sat), Ms. Yoriko Kawaguchi, Minister for Foreign Affairs, will visit Madrid in Spain to attend the Ministerial Meeting of the International Conference on Reconstruction in Iraq. After the meeting is over, she will visit Egypt and Tunisia till October 29 (Wed).
At the Conference, Ms. Kawaguchi will stress Japan's determination to contribute to ensuring the peace and stability of the international community by proactively providing reconstruction assistance to Iraq, since that is an important and urgent issue.
In Egypt and Tunisia, Ms. Kawaguchi will exchange views with key figures of each country on the Middle East peace process, Iraq and other issues. She will also exchange views on Africa-related issues based on the outcome of the Third Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD III). Her visit to these countries comes within the context of strengthening dialogue with the Arab and Islamic countries, as Mr. Junichiro Koizumi, Prime Minister of Japan, assured when he visited the Middle East in May 2003.

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