Press Conference 7 November 2000

1. Statement on the situation in the Middle East
2. Visit to the Russian Federation by Minister for Foreign Affairs Yohei Kono
3. Visit to Japan by Minister of Foreign Affairs Yi Chong-pin of the Republic of Korea
4. Japan-Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) Ministerial Meeting
5. Information technology (IT) mission to Southeast Asia
6. Economic delegation to the Republic of India
7. 2000 Japan Exchange and Teaching Program Alumni Association (JETAA) International Conference
8. Question on the presidential election in the United States of America
9. Follow-up question on the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program
10. Questions on the upcoming Japan-CARICOM Ministerial Meeting
11. Other questions

1. Statement on the situation in the Middle East

   Press Secretary Ryuichiro Yamazaki: Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I have several announcements to begin with at the outset.

   Let me start with my own statement on the Middle East situation, which was actually announced over the weekend on 4 November.

   The Government of Japan welcomes the understanding reached between the Government of the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority on the implementation of the understanding at the Sharm el-Sheikh Summit meeting, including the cessation of violence. Japan urges both parties to continue their utmost efforts to restore calm in the region as soon as possible.

   In this connection, the Japanese Government deplores the fact that a terrorist bombing occurred in Jerusalem on 2 November and caused loss of lives and injuries among civilians. Japan reaffirms its strong opposition to any form of terrorism, regardless of its motives, its objectives, and its manner.

   A negotiated peace is the only realistic option. Japan strongly hopes that the Israelis and the Palestinians will restore their mutual confidence as peace partners as soon as possible and that the peace talks will be restored. Japan will extend any possible assistance to the parties in their efforts to this end.

   Related Information (Crisis in the Middle East Peace Process)
   
2. Visit to the Russian Federation by Minister for Foreign Affairs Yohei Kono

   Mr. Yamazaki: Secondly, I would just like to briefly describe the results of Minister for Foreign Affairs Yohei Kono's visit to Russia.

   Foreign Minister Kono visited Russia from 1 to 4 November. During his stay, Foreign Minister Kono met with President Vladimir Putin of the Russian Federation and held bilateral talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs Igor Sergeyevich Ivanov. In addition, Foreign Minister Kono with Deputy Premier Viktor Borisovich Khristenko held the fourth meeting of the Japan-Russia Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Affairs. I would like to briefly highlight a few of the items from these events.

   Firstly, on the issue of the peace treaty, Foreign Minister Kono emphasized the importance of finding a solution based on law and justice that will be recognized by the international community and be convincing to the Japanese people. The Russian side remarked that they will not avoid the issue, and moreover they value what has been accumulated so far between our two countries. The Russian side went on to say that they would seriously explore solutions in a cautious manner. The 1956 Japan-Soviet Declaration was reconfirmed, and both sides also reconfirmed that they would continue their discussions for finding a solution to this issue.

   In relation to how to promote cooperation in the economic area, Foreign Minister Kono had very frank discussions with both Foreign Minister Ivanov and Deputy Premier Khristenko. One of the points that Foreign Minister Kono raised was the need for improvement in the investment climate and environment of Russia and to solve various individual economic issues between our two countries.

   This visit by Foreign Minister Kono to Russia helped to follow up in a steady way the visit by President Putin to Japan in September and to set the path for further development in our bilateral relations. On 15 November, eight days from now, in Brunei Darussalam, Prime Minister Mori and President Putin will have an opportunity to meet. And if required, the two foreign ministers may meet before the end of this year. It is the intention of the Japanese Government to strengthen all aspects of our relations with Russia and at the same time do our best to conclude the peace treaty.

   Related Information (Foreign Minister Yohei Kono's Visit to Russia)
   
3. Visit to Japan by Minister of Foreign Affairs Yi Chong-pin of the Republic of Korea

   Mr. Yamazaki: My next announcement concerns the recent visit to Japan by Minister of Foreign Affairs Yi Chong-pin of the Republic of Korea.

   Yesterday evening, Foreign Minister Kono had a meeting with Foreign Minister Yi Chong-pin followed by a working dinner. Let me just highlight some of the major points from this meeting, which should be viewed in the context of the very close, continuing dialogue that Japan has with the Republic of Korea, such as recently the very successful visit by President Kim Dae-jung to Japan, when he had very good talks with Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori at Atami. Foreign Minister Kono and Foreign Minister Yi Chong-pin were following up on the results that were attained at the Atami meeting.

   One of the issues taken up in the economic area was how Japan could expand its investment in the Republic of Korea, and in this connection we expressed the hope that various investment promotion measures could be introduced. The two foreign ministers agreed that they would continue their efforts to try to conclude a bilateral investment treaty by the end of the year.

   On the issue of some sort of free trade agreement between our two countries, as you know, at Atami it was agreed upon by Prime Minister Mori and President Kim Dae-jung to set up a bilateral free trade agreement business forum in order to study this issue. The setting up of this business forum is presently underway, and Foreign Minister Kono and Foreign Minister Yi Chong-pin noted this and they looked forward to discussions taking place.

   In relation to the issue of double payment of social security fees, especially by Japanese business people in Korea, the two foreign ministers looked forward to productive results emerging from bilateral meetings on this issue between our two governments at director-level.

   With respect to the issue of the Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA), it was noted that an experts' meeting had been held on this issue in late September.

   Finally, an issue related to civil aviation, the question of how we can meet the increasing demand for flights between Tokyo and Seoul, was discussed. Both immediate short-term and medium- to long-term issues were raised. Foreign Minister Kono observed that among other issues the Ministry of Transport is studying how late night or early morning charter flights between Haneda and Kinpo could be accommodated. Foreign Minister Kono said that he would certainly follow-up on these issues in cooperation with the Ministry of Transport.

   On cultural exchanges and people-to-people exchanges, again, the importance of 2002 as a year of exchange between our two countries and two peoples was remarked upon. With regard to cultural exchanges, just before the meeting yesterday afternoon, Foreign Minister Yi Chong-pin was able to go to Quatrro at Shibuya to view the Tongdaemooi Market, to dai mon ichiba. It was also noted that many Korean films are popular here in Japan. Overall, the various cultural exchanges, people-to-people exchanges taking place are very encouraging.

   The informal bilateral ministerial meeting, the third of its kind, was scheduled to be held in Japan some time this year, but due to our respective tight diplomatic calendars it was decided to hold it in the first half of next year at a mutually convenient time in Japan.

   On the issue of participation in local elections, Foreign Minister Yi Chong-pin said that he had mentioned this to the secretary-generals of the three ruling parties and that before coming to Japan he had been asked to take this issue up with Japanese politicians by various political circles in the Republic of Korea, so he conveyed the interest of the Korean side on this issue. In response, Foreign Minister Kono described various related issues, observing that there are a broad spectrum of people that are for or against expanded participation and that discussions are now underway.

   In a similar vein, Foreign Minister Yi Chong-pin raised the textbook issue, again, in the context that various politicians in the Republic of Korea raised concern about this issue. Foreign Minister Yi Chong-pin hoped that the Japanese Government would be prudent in dealing with this issue. Foreign Minister Kono replied that he understood the position of the Government of the Republic of Korea, and this issue is now undergoing a process of examination and approval within the Ministry of Education.

   Finally, at the working dinner Foreign Minister Yi Chong-pin stated that relations between North Korea and our three countries, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United States of America, do not necessarily have to move at the same speed, but on the whole it is important that they move in a similar direction.

   With regard to the missile talks between the United States and North Korea, Foreign Minister Yi Chong-pin hoped that they move forward in substance. Foreign Minister Yi Chong-pin also mentioned that it is important that Japan, the Republic of Korea, and the United States of America continue to cooperate closely on this issue as a whole. Foreign Minister Kono agreed to this and said that it is important to address peace and stability in Northeast Asia, as well as the non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, and our three countries, through policy coordination, could help to bring about further peace and stability on the Korean Peninsula.

   Related Information (Japan-Republic of Korea Relations)
   
4. Japan-Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) Ministerial Meeting

   Mr. Yamazaki: My fourth announcement is on the holding of the Japan-Caribbean Community and Common Market (CARICOM) Ministerial Meeting tomorrow, 8 November, here in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

   The 14 member countries of the CARICOM member countries will be assembled here in Tokyo, represented by 13 cabinet ministers and one vice-minister. Among the 13 cabinet ministers are Prime Minister Pierre Charles of the Commonwealth of Dominica and two other deputy prime ministers, Deputy Prime Minister Sam Condor of the Federation of Saint Kitts Nevis and Deputy Prime Minister Billie Millie of Barbados. They are both concurrently foreign affairs ministers of their respective countries.

   This is the first time that we have held such a ministerial-level meeting with the CARICOM countries, although in the past few years we have held annual Japan-CARICOM high-level talks at the deputy- or vice-minister level.

   The purpose of this inaugural Japan-CARICOM ministerial-level meeting is to explore ways to strengthen the partnership between Japan and the CARICOM countries toward the 21st century, especially how Japan can help the CARICOM countries in their economic and social development, to have them more closely integrated into the global economy, and also to address various issues of global magnitude.

   During their stay, the CARICOM representatives will be having an audience with Their Imperial Highnesses Prince and Princess Akishino, who visited Jamaica on an official visit in 1997, as well as meetings with various parliamentarians and leaders of our business community. At the end of tomorrow's meeting we hope to announce a policy document showing the framework for Japan-CARICOM cooperation into the 21st century.

   Related Information (Japan-Latin America and the Caribbean Relations)
   
5. Information technology (IT) mission to Southeast Asia

   Mr. Yamazaki: My next announcement is related to a follow-up from the G8 Kyushu-Okinawa Summit, where we announced a comprehensive package of information technology (IT) cooperation. As a follow up to this imitative we sent the first IT mission, headed by Deputy Director-General Kaoru Ishikawa of the Economic Affairs Bureau, with Ministry of Finance, Ministry of International Trade and Industry (MITI), Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), and the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JIBC) officials together to three Southeast Asian countries. The mission visited the Republic of the Philippines, the Kingdom of Cambodia, and the Kingdom of Thailand, to explore how they could follow up this IT initiative.

   If you recall, this is a package of US$15 million over the next five years of both non-official development assistance and ODA. Needless to say the interest shown from these three countries was extremely high. The mission had very good meetings with both cabinet-level officials as well as private-sector representatives. From our side, we explained the comprehensive package and discussed concrete ways to attach substance to it. Toward the end of the year, we intend to send a project survey team to these three countries especially on the ODA part of IT cooperation.

   Related Information (Japan-Asia Relations)
   
6. Economic delegation to the Republic of India

   Mr. Yamazaki: My next announcement is on another mission, this time to India, which I made an announcement on a couple of weeks ago. This delegation was headed by Mr. Nobuhiko Kawamoto, Chairman of the Commission on Japan-India Economic Relations, and had as supreme advisor Mr. Takashi Imai, President of Keidanren. The delegation was composed of a total of 44 representatives of the private sector, with other accompanying delegates and press.

   The delegation was in India from 29 October until 4 November, visiting Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, and also Channai. This was a follow-up to the visit by Prime Minister Mori in August to India, where he agreed with the Indian side on the Japan-India Global Partnership for the 21st Century. This delegation had very high-level meetings with various Indian leaders, including President Kircheril Raman Narayanan, and they agreed on the importance of strengthening economic ties with India.

   Also from the Japanese side, the various economic reforms that India was conducting were noted, and we expressed hope that this would continue. From the Indian side, there were strong expectations for an increase in investment from Japan in both the traditional areas, such as infrastructure and food processing, and also in the new areas, such as information technology.

   On information technology, it was noted that India, which is strong in software, and Japan, which is strong in hardware, could be mutually compatible and supplement each other in their future cooperation.

   With the year 2002 as the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between India and Japan, it was hoped that the private sectors of both countries would play a role in advancing and strengthening the bilateral economic relations.

   Related Information (Japan-India Relations)
   
7. 2000 Japan Exchange and Teaching Program Alumni Association (JETAA) International Conference

   Mr. Yamazaki: You have in front of you an English brochure on the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program. I do not know how many of you are familiar with this, but this program started fourteen years ago and has three categories: Assistant Language Teacher (ALT), Coordinator for International Relations (CIR), and Sports Exchange Advisor (SEA). Over the years both the number of participants in these three groups as well as the number of countries have increased. Right now we have around 6,000 people participating in the JET program in Japan. The participants are invited to stay at least a year, and can extend their stay to one or two years. The accumulative total of participants is around 30,000.

   The Japan Exchange and Teaching Program Alumni Association (JETAA) was established, and it is the first time that the international meeting of the Alumni Association is being held in Japan. About 100 people from 12 countries, representing 43 branches, will be participating in this big event.

   If you look at a breakdown of the numbers in the various prefectures, you see Saitama Prefecture has more than 300 JET participants and Hyogo Prefecture has more than 200. In Tokyo there are not many participants because Tokyo Metropolitan Government has its own program for inviting teachers from abroad to teach English at high schools. You can see from the overall distribution figures that this program is nationwide.

   Some of the participants have stayed on, but most participants have gone back to their respective countries and kept some sort of link with Japan: some learn the Japanese language, some go on to Japanese studies, and some of them do come back to Japan, and we welcome them wholeheartedly.

   We believe that this is a very important program that brings Japan closer to the international community and at the same time shows Japan to people from all over the world. We hope that it can increase friendship and mutual understanding between Japan and the rest of the world.

   Related Information (JET Programme)
   
8. Question on the presidential election in the United States of America

   Q: I would like to know how closely you are watching the presidential election in the United States and do you have any comments?

   Mr. Yamazaki: It is up to the American voters to make up their minds, so I cannot make any comment other than to say we are watching closely.

   Related Information (Japan-The United States Relations)
   
9. Follow-up question on the Japan Exchange and Teaching (JET) Program

   Q: On the JET Program, you have an office in Korea. What have you done in Korea? And what is your program for the future?

   Mr. Yamazaki: This table in the brochure illustrates the composition of the participants in the JET program, including people from the Republic of Korea and other countries. From the Republic of Korea, there are some that are teaching the Korean language as Assistant Language Teachers, but most of them are either Coordinators for International Relations or Sports Exchange Advisors. The JET participants are allocated to prefectural offices, cities, towns, or local communities to help in international programs.

   This again is background, but I think a Korean youth who is participating in this program in the coordinating position, for example in a city in Kanagawa Prefecture, would probably help in the exchange between that city in Kanagawa Prefecture and some Korean city.

   If you have detailed questions, we can put you in touch with the relevant people. We hope to maintain and expand the JET Program because it is one of our success stories, and that is why I wanted to announce it to you today.

   Related Information (JET Programme)
   
10. Questions on the upcoming Japan-CARICOM Ministerial Meeting

    Q: On the CARICOM meeting, the fact that this is the first ministerial meeting seems to imply that Japan is interested in generally upgrading the relationship with the CARICOM countries. Can you say more on the background, whether this is primarily economic?

    Mr. Yamazaki: On background, I would say that first of all we have already held meetings during the past--indeed I actually attended a meeting five years ago in Tokyo-- where the vice- or deputy- ministers of the CARICOM countries are invited to Japan, or we go to a CARICOM country, and we have a dialogue not just on economic affairs but also, for example, the United Nations, or whatever issue at that time is deserving bilateral discussion.

    I think I tried to give you more or less the gist of the social or economic development issues that the CARICOM countries face; the agenda can differ from country to country. Some countries have tourism as one of their major interests, others are concerned about the environment, and some are very vulnerable to hurricanes--if you remember, there were some hurricanes that hit this region last year. So in addition to mid-term issues, these are some that need addressing immediately.

    On the whole it is Japan's wish to reach out to the rest of the world, and we view the CARICOM as an important partner to which we should reach out to.

    Q: There is no significance that it has been upgraded to ministerial-level?

    Mr. Yamazaki: As your own question indicated, yes it is to put more emphasis--this will not be the last CARICOM ministerial meeting, it is certainly the first.

    Related Information (Japan-Latin America and the Caribbean Relations)
    
11. Other questions

    Q: Two questions. First relating to IT: Why is the Philippines placed higher than Cambodia? Presumably it has something to do with how the US$15 million will be dealt with. Secondly, in relation to Korea, you said that both sides agreed to make their best efforts to conclude a free trade agreement by the end of the year. It seems to imply that there may be some difficulties and that you are not wholly confident of actually doing it?

    Mr. Yamazaki: On the first question, there is no special meaning to the order that we chose for the first mission. If I may just say in background this is, as I said, the first mission and not the last. There are other missions in store, especially with Southeast Asia in mind.

    On the second question, well you made your own interpretation and I do not have any comment on your interpretation as such. I can only repeat what I said earlier as far as the investment treaty is concerned.

    Related Information (Japan-Asia Relations)