Japan Will Support Middle Eastern & North African Countries' Reform & Transition Efforts

June 11, 2011

At the working dinner of the Deauville G8 Summit on May 26, the Summit leaders exchanged views over the Middle East and North African situation.

Sharing his observation that countries in Southeast Asia with a large number of Muslims had built tolerant societies based on a national consensus, Prime Minister Naoto Kan stated that Japan, on the basis of experience and knowledge gained through its contributions to promoting democracy, stability and growth in Southeast Asia, would continue to support self-help efforts by countries in Middle East and North Africa for transition to a stable regime and for domestic reforms. He specifically stated that Japan’s support would mainly focus on the following areas: (1) equitable political and administrative management; (2) nurturing of human resources; and (3) job creation and industrial development.
The leaders, while recognizing that countries in the Middle East and North African region were experiencing a period of major change, welcomed the aspirations of these countries and their peoples for changes in the political, economic and social domains as a positive development, and affirmed that other countries and regions would continue to support these efforts. The leaders shared the importance of supporting and assisting Tunisia and Egypt, the two countries where the movement toward change originated. Many leaders expressed support for the U.S. policy that President Barak Obama announced in his May 19 speech to back the region’s transition to democracy and their reforms.