Press Conference 24 October 2003

1. Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi's attendance at Ministerial Meeting of the International Conference on Reconstruction in Iraq and upcoming visit to Arab Republic of Egypt and Republic of Tunisia
2. Regulatory Reform and Competition Policy Initiative

1. Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi's attendance at Ministerial Meeting of the International Conference on Reconstruction in Iraq and upcoming visit to Arab Republic of Egypt and Republic of Tunisia

   Assistant Press Secretary Jiro Okuyama: Good afternoon. Today I have two announcements I would like to make.

   Firstly, Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi is in Madrid, Kingdom of Spain to attend the Ministerial Meeting of the International Conference on Reconstruction in Iraq today. After the meeting is over, she will visit the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Republic of Tunisia till 29 October.

   At the conference, Foreign Minister 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.

   Foreign Minister Kawaguchi is expected to make a speech in Madrid at around 1800 hours (Japan time) in which she will announce Japan's thinking on and contributions to the reconstruction of Iraq. At the fringe of the conference, she is scheduled to have bilateral meetings today with Mr. Paul Bremer, Administrator of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), Chairman Iyad Allawi of the Iraq Governing Council, Minister of Foreign Affairs Ana Palacio of Spain, Minister of Foreign Affairs Kamal Kharrazi of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Minister of International Development Hilary Benn of the United Kingdom and Mr. Mark Malloch Brown, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).

   In Egypt and Tunisia, Foreign Minister 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 issue 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 Japan's policy of strengthening dialogue with the Arab and Islamic countries, the policy which Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced when he visited the Middle East in May 2003.

   Related Information (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)
   
2. Regulatory Reform and Competition Policy Initiative

   Mr. Okuyama: Secondly, today Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs Ichiro Fujisaki met Deputy United States Trade Representative Josette Shiner at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and they exchanged the Recommendations on Regulatory Reform and Competition Policy.

   The Recommendations incorporate regulations and institutions of the other party which the Government of Japan and the Government of the United States of America deem necessary to be improved for the promotion of Japan-US economic relations. This is a mutual endeavor between Japan and the United States under the framework of the Regulatory Reform and Competition Policy Initiative which is now in its third year. We will have constructive discussions on the request items, which were exchanged today, in a series of meetings in the future. Progress thus made will be reported to the leaders of the two countries at a Japan-US summit talks to take place around the middle of next year.

   For your background information, Prime Minister Koizumi and US President George W. Bush agreed to launch Japan-US Economic Partnership for Growth when they met at Camp David on 30 June 2001 and the Regulatory Reform and Competition Policy Initiative is one of the six frameworks established under this partnership. The two countries have had dialogue for the last two years and achievements have been made in reduction of unnecessary regulations, strengthening of competition and improvement of market access.

   Japan's recommendations together with its summary and explanatory note will be made available on the English website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs today.

   Related Information (Japan-The United States Relations)