Press Conference by the Deputy Press Secretary, 7 October 2010

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2010 for two Japanese scientists
The 8th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM8)
The APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Ministerial Meeting and the APEC Women's Entrepreneurship Summit
Conclusion of the Negotiations on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)
The additional contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria
Visit to Japan by H.E. Mr. Jean-Marie Ehouzou, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Integration, Francophonie and Beninese Diaspora of the Republic of Benin
Dispatch of an observation mission from Japan for the parliamentary election in the Kyrgyz Republic
Conclusion of the activities by the Japan Disaster Relief Team in Pakistan
Upcoming multilateral meetings
Questions concerning the Brussels Declaration on More Effective Global Economic Governance
Questions concerning the Senkaku Islands
Questions concerning the APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Ministerial Meeting and the APEC Women's Entrepreneurship Summit
Questions concerning the East Asian Community and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)

The Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2010 for two Japanese scientists

Deputy Press Secretary Hidenobu Sobashima: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. As for the good news, we heard yesterday evening that a decision was made to award the Nobel Prize in Chemistry 2010 to two Japanese, the Prime Minister already made his comment to congratulate them, among others, and you can view his comment on the website of Prime Minister's office. Today I am going to explain about ASEM, APEC meetings, and some other topics before inviting your questions.

The 8th Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM8)

Mr. Sobashima: First, we distributed the Chair's Statement on the 8th Asia-Europe Meeting; I don't intend to explain in detail this statement. This statement says that in Brussels on 4 and 5 of October this meeting was held, with Australia, New Zealand, and the Russian Federation participating for the first time. The leaders discussed first "global economic governance." On this a separate declaration reflecting their common views was issued: Brussels Declaration on More Effective Global Economic Governance. Then they discussed other topics such as "sustainable development," "global issues," "regional issues," "people-to-people visibility, and the future of ASEM."

On the occasion of this ASEM meeting, Prime Minister Kan had bilateral meetings with the leaders of Australia, the Republic of Korea, Vietnam, Germany, France, the EU, represented by Mr. Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, and Mr. Barroso, President of the European Commission. He also had a conversation with the Chinese Premier.

I will not explain the contents of the bilateral meetings now, but of course, if you are interested, I am ready to respond to your questions on the bilateral meetings that took place in Brussels.

Related Information (ASEM 8 Summit)

The APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Ministerial Meeting and the APEC Women's Entrepreneurship Summit

Mr. Sobashima: And then we have the documents on the APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Ministerial Meeting and the APEC Women's Entrepreneurship Summit.

The APEC Women's Entrepreneurship Summit took place for the first time in APEC history. It was held on 1 October prior to the APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Ministerial meeting, which took place on 2 and 3 October. In the APEC Women's Entrepreneurship Summit, Minister Seiji Maehara, and Secretary Hillary Rodham Clinton contributed their video message to the participants. Our minister's message was introduced by Parliamentary Vice-Minister Ms. Makiko Kikuta in her greetings to the participants. I understand that both Minister Maehara and Secretary Clinton emphasized the importance of women's contribution to the growth in Asia. I would like to refrain from explaining the texts issued after these meetings held in Gifu City.

Conclusion of the Negotiations on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA)

Mr. Sobashima: Then we have distributed a paper on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) (Conclusion on the 11th and Final Round of the Negotiations). I will read a part of this paper.

"The 11th and final round of the negotiations for the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) was concluded successfully in Tokyo, Japan on October 2. The Government of Japan hosted the negotiations. Participants in the negotiations included Australia, Canada, the European Union, represented by the European Commission and the EU Presidency, that is Belgium, the EU Member States, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Mexico, Morocco, New Zealand, Singapore, Switzerland and the United States of America."

"ACTA aims to establish a comprehensive, first-time, international framework that will assist Parties to the agreement in their efforts to effectively combat the infringement of intellectual property rights, in particular, the proliferation of counterfeiting and piracy." I will also read the next paragraph. "During the week, the Government of Japan hosted informal meetings with stakeholders, including representatives from non-governmental organizations and business leaders." Then I will skip some. "Participants in the negotiations constructively resolved nearly all substantive issues and produced a consolidated and largely finalized text of the proposed agreement, which will be submitted ad referendum to their respective authorities. The participants agreed to work expeditiously to resolve the small number of outstanding issues that require further examination in capitals, with a view to finalizing the text of the agreement as promptly as possible. The participants will publicly release the text of the agreement shortly." So this is about ACTA.

The additional contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria

Mr. Sobashima: Then we have the paper, "Additional Contribution to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria." On October 5, at the Third Voluntary Replenishment meeting of the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria held in New York, Mr. Yutaka Banno, State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, announced that the Government of Japan will make contributions to the Global Fund amounting to 800 million USD in the coming years from 2011.

Visit to Japan by H.E. Mr. Jean-Marie Ehouzou, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Integration, Francophonie and Beninese Diaspora of the Republic of Benin

Mr. Sobashima: Next is the visit to Japan by H.E. Mr. Jean-Marie Ehouzou, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Integration, Francophonie and Beninese Diaspora of the Republic of Benin.

H.E. Mr. Jean-Marie Ehouzou, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Integration, Francophonie and Beninese Diaspora of the Republic of Benin, will visit Japan from 7 October, that is today, to 11 October, Monday next week, as a guest of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He is expected to have a meeting with our Minister this evening.

Dispatch of an observation mission from Japan for the parliamentary election in the Kyrgyz Republic

Mr. Sobashima: Then the dispatch of an observation mission from Japan for the parliamentary election in the Kyrgyz Republic. The Government of Japan decided to dispatch four persons to take part in the election observation mission in order to support the fair conduct of the parliamentary election in the Kyrgyz Republic scheduled to take place on 10 October, that is the coming Sunday.

Conclusion of the activities by the Japan Disaster Relief Team in Pakistan

Mr. Sobashima: Next, I have an oral presentation of the conclusion of the activities by the Japan Disaster Relief Team in Pakistan.

In response to the request made by the government of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, which was hit by an unprecedented flood disaster, Japan dispatched a Japan Disaster Relief (JDR) Team with helicopters of the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) for five weeks from August 31, to conduct airlift operations in Punjab Province in central Pakistan, transporting emergency relief goods, medical staff, and other necessities and people.

Recently, the government of Pakistan made a request to Japan for the conclusion of airlift operations, in light of the decreasing need for air transportation due to the gradual recovery from the flood. In response, the Minister of Defense of Japan issued an order for the conclusion of the Self-Defense Force's international disaster relief activities, effective on 10 October.

So, we will conclude the relief activities of the Self-Defense Forces on 10 October.

Upcoming multilateral meetings

Mr. Sobashima: As for the information on visits, I already explained about Benin's Foreign Minister, and then we have several multilateral meetings. On 16 October, we will have a Ministerial Interim Meeting of the Pacific Islands' Leaders Meeting. This is on the 16 October in Tokyo. Then we have the APEC meetings, the meetings of the APEC ministers responsible for food security on October 16 and 17 in Niigata City. And then we will have a big conference, which is COP10, of the Convention on Biological Diversity, from 18 to 29 October. So these are the meetings and visits to take place in Japan. As for overseas, we have ASEAN-related summit meetings, but there is no decision yet on who will be participating from Japan. Now I invite your questions.

Questions concerning the Brussels Declaration on More Effective Global Economic Governance

Q: First question: in the Brussels Declaration on More Effective Global Economic Governance, it says, "We agree that policy actions must take account of possible spill-over effects and imbalances" and so on. Is that a global financial safety net that it is suggesting, or is that not included?

Mr. Sobashima: Are you asking the meaning of "financial safety net"?

Q: No, I ask, does this sentence mean "the global financial safety net" or is this… can this not be more concrete than how it is written here? It mentions…

Mr. Sobashima: I am sorry, I am not able to explain to you more than what is written there. But our understanding is that the leaders recognized the necessity of an effective or useful financial safety net to address the fluctuations in the financial market, and also the importance of what is called the multilateralization of the Chiang Mai initiative, and also welcomed the European financial stability mechanisms. I think this is what the paragraph means. I am not able to give you further detail than that.

Questions concerning the Senkaku Islands

Q: In these bilateral meetings in Brussels, there were regional issues that were discussed. Does that include the Senkaku Islands?

Mr. Sobashima: Yes, as the Prime Minister already indicated that when necessary he was ready to explain about Japanese position on the Senkaku Islands bilaterally, and so I understand this was done in some of the bilateral meetings.

Questions concerning the APEC Small and Medium Enterprises Ministerial Meeting and the APEC Women's Entrepreneurship Summit

Q: In the APEC preparatory meetings in Gifu, those for the SMEs and Women, who was participating on the Chinese side?

Mr. Sobashima: I am sorry I don't have the data at hand with me, but I will come back to you later.

Q: I mean, I just want to know, was the Chinese side represented as expected before 7 September, or was nobody coming, or...?

Mr. Sobashima: I presume somebody came, but I don't know whether the persons who participated were the persons expected, or different people. I have to check, but my understanding is China participated.

Questions concerning the East Asian Community and Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP)

Q: On Tuesday, when the Foreign Minister was in the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan (FCCJ), he mentioned TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. And Mr. Kan mentioned the TPP in his declaration in the Diet last week. Now Mr. Hatoyama spoke of an East Asian Community, and Mr. Maehara even hinted something like this is the same. Now the East Asian Community, although it was not defined what it was, it was pretty clear that it was something around China, Korea, and Japan, or ASEAN+3. During the Hatoyama administration it was said that the Chiang Mai Initiative was something like the first stone of the East Asian Community. And the TPP was something that was cooked up by states like New Zealand, and Chile, and Singapore, and nobody cared about the TPP until the Americans came up with the idea to join that, and that was obviously a measure to counter the East Asian Community idea. Now, I don't think that Mr. Maehara does not understand the difference; these are two totally different animals. Does that mean the East Asian Community idea is dead now?

Mr. Sobashima: No. My short answer is no. The Kan Government still upholds this concept on the initiative for the East Asian Community. However, this is a long-term concept. We feel that the involvement of the United States in this East Asian Community is important. The East Asian Community and the Trans-Pacific Partnership may be different.

Our position is that we would like to discuss this. Minister Maehara said that in this discussion of the concept of the East Asian Community, he mentioned that he does not exclude the United States. However, the Minister said, if I remember correctly, that Prime Minister Kan, on another occasion, had said that the East Asian Community should include the United States. Therefore, the latter is more positive. Minister Maehara said that he should follow what the Prime Minister has said. But, having said this, this concept is a long-term concept we should discuss. We feel the presence of the United States, in any event, is important, and that we should discuss this with the possible participants.

Also, having said this, we have this growth strategy, and we feel the interdependency of the Asian-pacific countries. Therefore, also in considering the East Asian Community, it is important to consider economic relationships. Because the growth of Japan is dependant on the growth of Asia, or the East Asian Community. I just want to remind you of this point.

Q: Does that mean that APEC, ASEAN+3, ASEAN+6 and TPP can still be considered to be equal concepts that are being explored in parallel? Now it seems that TPP is the preferred idea, because both of them, they mentioned TPP. Any word on the East Asian Community is totally absent from Mr. Kan’s speech in the Diet. He has a whole paragraph about TPP, but no word about the East Asian Community.

Mr. Sobashima: Thank you for pointing out the wording. However, as I said earlier, we still have this initiative of the East Asian Community. We continue to consider the East Asian Community.

Q: Do you have a working group working on the East Asian Community, and do you have a working group working on TPP within the Foreign Ministry? Or is this still an idea? I mean, you have a Russia department, you have Europe department, and probably the Europe department includes the EU. Is there a group of people occupied with these ideas?

Mr. Sobashima: According to necessity, Ministries and Agencies concerned will have consultations on specific issues. Regardless of the existence or not of specific offices, the existing offices, so to speak, will have consultations on all those topics that you have mentioned.

No other questions? Thank you very much.

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