Press Conferences

Mr. Koichi Mizushima : Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the Sixteenth Japan-ASEAN Summit yesterday, on October 9th, in Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei

In the meeting, Prime Minister Abe mentioned that he looks forward to visiting all ten member states of ASEAN by the end of this year that marks the 40th anniversary of Japan-ASEAN Friendship and Cooperation and welcoming all ASEAN leaders to Tokyo in December for the ASEAN-Japan Commemorative Summit. Prime Minister Abe added that Japan is making preparation to make the Commemorative Summit successful and expressed his hope that, as a significant outcome of the Summit, Japan and ASEAN could address to the world a vision that will direct the future of Japan-ASEAN cooperation.

Prime Minister Abe also mentioned that Japan will actively continue its assistance to ASEAN in order to help realize ASEAN connectivity as well as narrowing gaps and disaster management, with a view to ASEAN’s efforts of community building by 2015 and of the ASEAN integration.

Prime Minister Abe stressed the importance of promoting cultural and youth exchanges between Japan and ASEAN. Prime Minister stated that Japan will advance youth exchanges through JENESYS 2.0 that he launched early this year.

Prime Minister Abe also mentioned that Japan will enhance efforts on cooperation against new threats such as global terrorism and cybercrimes, as well as on new challenges that ASEAN faces as its economy develops, such as access to basic healthcare services, environment protection, urbanization, promotion of women’s empowerment among others.

During the meeting, Prime Minister Abe explained to ASEAN leaders about Japan’s Security Policy. He explained that Japan will further actively contribute to regional and global peace and stability from the standpoint of “proactive contribution to peace.” Prime Minister Abe further explained that he is promoting such efforts as the establishment of the National Security Council, drafting of the National Security Strategy, reviewing the National Defense Program Guidelines, as well as examining its rights to exercise collective self-defense and participation towards collective security measures of the United Nations.
As for regional issues, Prime Minister Abe raised the issue of Japan-China relations and explained its basic position, noting that the Japan-China relationship is one of the most important one for Japan so that Japan is ready to advance cooperation from a broad perspective, and the door for dialogue is always open on Japan’s side.
With regard to the issue of the South China Sea, Prime Minister Abe emphasized the importance for ASEAN to keep its unity, so that disputes would be resolved peacefully in accordance with the international law, and said that Japan is willing to continue to closely cooperate with ASEAN on this issue as a common challenge.

Prime Minister Abe also addressed the issues of North Korea, emphasizing that North Korea’s continued nuclear and missile program is a threat to the Asian region as well as to the entire international society, and that we must continue to strongly urge North Korea to take concrete actions towards its denuclearization. Prime Minister Abe also stressed that the issue of abduction is a universal problem to the international community as a whole and requested each country’s understanding and cooperation.

Mr. Mizushima : Second, on Diplomatic Conference on the Minamata Convention on Mercury.
The Diplomatic Conference on the Minamata Convention on Mercury is now being held in Kumamoto from October 9th to 11th. During the Conference, participating countries are welcomed to sign the Minamata Convention. Foreign Minister Kishida will attend the Conference today and sign the Convention.

The Minamata Convention is the first convention to set out comprehensive regulations in order to reduce the risk that mercury poses to health and the environment. Its scope ranges from prohibiting the primary mercury mining to regulations on various areas such as trade, mercury-added products, manufacturing processes, emission to atmosphere and mercury waste.

In light of the experiences of Minamata Disease, Japan has actively contributed to the negotiations based on its belief that measures to control mercury pollution should be strengthened worldwide.

In his speech, Foreign Minister Kishida will explain that Japan will extend its assistance to developing countries in order to help their efforts to tackle pollution in such fields as air pollution, water pollution and disposal of waste, amounting to 2 billion US dollars in the next three years.

Japan will continue to strengthen measures against mercury pollution while cooperating with the international community.