Press Conference by the Deputy Press Secretary, 6 May 2010

Foreign Minister Okada's visit to Africa
NPT Review Conference
Statement by Ms. Chinami Nishimura, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, on the occasion of the Sixteenth Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)
VIP visits
Question concerning Foreign Minister Okada's visit to South Africa
Questions concerning the joint media article submitted by the Foreign Ministers of Japan and Germany
Questions concerning the Futenma relocation issue

Foreign Minister Okada's visit to Africa

Deputy Press Secretary Hidenobu Sobashima: Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. Today I have several topics before inviting your questions.

The first is Foreign Minister Okada's visit to Africa. He visited South Africa, and he had meetings with his counterpart the Foreign Minister of South Africa. He also paid a courtesy call on the President. Later he went to Tanzania and he attended a Ministerial Meeting of TICAD. During the bilateral visit to South Africa, Foreign Minister Okada exchanged views with his counterpart on both bilateral and global issues. The global issues included the United Nations Security Council reform and nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, as well as how to address the climate change issue.

In Tanzania, he co-chaired TICAD's Ministerial Meeting. This is a part of the TICAD process. We have distributed his remarks in his national capacity representing Japan, as well as the communiqué of this Second TICAD Ministerial Follow-up Meeting held in Arusha, Tanzania on 2-3 May.

As for this Second TICAD Ministerial Follow-up Meeting, I simply highlight the main pillars of the communiqué. That is, the importance of recovery from the impact of the global financial and economic crisis in Africa, the importance of achieving the MDGs, and the importance of addressing climate change. On that occasion, as a national capacity, the Foreign Minister reiterated Japan's determination to double the volume of ODA to Africa, as announced in TICAD IV held in Yokohama in 2008.

NPT Review Conference

Mr. Sobashima: The next topic is the NPT Review Conference. We distributed the statement by State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Mr. Fukuyama. He introduced the message of the Prime Minister and then explained the Japanese position addressing this important Conference. Japan, as you may recall, has already tabled many initiatives, including the important one jointly proposed with Australia on nuclear disarmament and non-proliferation, and Mr. Fukuyama reiterated Japan's position that Japan attaches importance to all three pillars of nuclear disarmament, nuclear non-proliferation, and peaceful use of nuclear energy. On the occasion of this Conference he had bilateral meetings with several countries.

Just for your information, on this occasion Japan and Germany jointly contributed an article, both nationally and internationally, and for your information Japan is cooperating with Germany as major non-nuclear-weapon states for the success of the NPT Conference, among others.

Statement by Ms. Chinami Nishimura, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, on the occasion of the Sixteenth Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC)

Mr. Sobashima: We also distributed the statement by Ms. Chinami Nishimura, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, on the occasion of the Sixteenth Summit of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC). She particularly emphasized the importance of addressing the climate change issue.

VIP visits

Mr. Sobashima: As for information on visits, it is not a new announcement, but just to remind you that the King of Cambodia will be coming, the President of the Swedish Parliament (the Riksdag) will be coming, and we will have at the beginning of next month the APEC trade ministers meeting in Hokkaido.

These are what I would like to share with you at the outset. Now I would like to invite your questions.

Question concerning Foreign Minister Okada's visit to South Africa

Q: During the Foreign Minister's visit to South Africa I think there was an announcement that the two countries will start a civil nuclear cooperation agreement, and in the article it was to start the negotiations soon, but how soon?

Mr. Sobashima: As soon as possible. There is no timetable set yet, but because the two ministers have agreed to start the negotiation on the agreement for the cooperation on peaceful use of nuclear energy, we hope that this negotiation process would start as soon as possible. But we don’t have a precise timetable yet.

Questions concerning the joint media article submitted by the Foreign Ministers of Japan and Germany

Q: About this joint media article, is it rare for two ministers to jointly issue this kind of column or opinion?

Mr. Sobashima: I don’t know, but as far as I am concerned this is the first in several months. I have not checked in the past thoroughly, but it is not frequent. This may be the first time in several months at the ministerial level of a joint contribution to journals like this. Of course, we have, as I already explained previously, many joint statements have been announced on the occasion of the visits of Foreign Ministers and Prime Ministers, but joint contributions of articles to newspapers may not be as common as joint statements issued on the occasion of visits.

Q: This came from the Japanese side or the German side or just the newspaper put the idea?

Mr. Sobashima: I am sorry, I am not in a position to explain the history, but in any event the two sides agreed to do this.

Questions concerning the Futenma relocation issue

Q: About the Prime Minister's visit to Okinawa. On the same day there were working level talks between Japan and the United States in Tokyo on the Futenma issue. I think that was the start of actual working level talks on this issue, but how frequently are these working level talks going to take place?

Mr. Sobashima: The issue you mentioned, among other issues of security cooperation, are dealt with bilaterally between the Government of Japan and the Government of the United States of America, and I would like to refrain from the details, not only of the contents but also of the frequency. As for the Futenma relocation issue, as you know the Government is committed to reach a conclusion by end of May, and of course various efforts will be made in various channels.

Q: So in the next several weeks, you just said that the Government is committed to reach a conclusion by the end of May, but basically what would be Japan's stance toward the United States on this Futenma issue? Is it that Japan would pursue moving the Futenma facility to off the coast of Henoko, by using the pile-supported platform plan? I think Prime Minister Hatoyama did not go into too much detail, but can it be regarded that Prime Minister Hatoyama is pursuing this pile-supported plan?

Mr. Sobashima: I don’t intend to add anything to what the Prime Minister himself said. He said to the Governor that he feels that he needs to request the Okinawa people to allow at least a part of the burden on this issue. And he also suggested that he may come back to Okinawa to talk again to proceed this process, to reach a conclusion. So I would like to refrain from adding to what the Prime Minister actually said, but it is a process, and as I already said, as announced, the Government is determined to reach a conclusion by the end of May.

Q: The United States has long insisted that Japan should stick to the 2006 bilaterally agreed plan. Do you think that Prime Minister Hatoyama's idea presented to the Okinawan people is acceptable to the United States?

Mr. Sobashima: I would like to refrain from prejudicing what the US side would say, but certainly we have the contacts and we are in the process of seeking understanding of the local people as well as the United States, so we hope that in the end the understanding will be obtainable from both sides.

If there are no further questions, thank you very much for coming.

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