Press Conference 12 December 2003

Second day of the Japan-ASEAN Commemorative Summit Meeting

Press Secretary Hatsuhisa Takashima: Good evening, I am sorry to have kept you waiting again. Thank you very much for coming to the briefing.

Today I will give you a briefing on the second day of the Japan-ASEAN Commemorative Summit Meeting held at the State Guest House in Akasaka and also the bilateral meetings between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and the Prime Ministers of the Lao People's Democratic Republic and the Union of Myanmar.

First, about the Japan-ASEAN Commemorative Summit Meeting. From 9:35 to 12:35 with a ten-minute coffee break, the leaders from all Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries and Japan met once again. Today's agenda was "The future direction of Japan-ASEAN relations."

Today, Prime Minister Koizumi of Japan was the chairman of the meeting and at the outset, Prime Minister Koizumi said that in the future ASEAN should integrate more in economic terms and also try to develop a more cooperative and collaborative economic partnership through the network of economic partnership agreements (EPA) between Japan and ASEAN member nations and an EPA between Japan and ASEAN itself to be agreed upon hopefully by the year 2014.

In addition to that, in order to promote further economic activity in the ASEAN and Japan areas, Prime Minister Koizumi said that it was desirable to see more investment, financial cooperation and cooperation in terms of information technology. Prime Minister Koizumi emphasized the importance of bringing the region as a whole into a more modernized economic zone. In order to achieve these ambitious goals, Prime Minister Koizumi said that Japan pledges the following project.

Firstly, Japan would spend US$1.5 billion for three years from now for the empowerment of people through capacity-building in terms of economic activities and others. Prime Minister Koizumi said that this would increase the flow of people by about 40,000 between Japan and ASEAN in various sectors.

The second pledge Japan made was assistance for regional development in the Mekong area. Once again, US$1.5 million was pledged for three years from now in order to assist Mekong region development, mainly for the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam, Laos, the Kingdom of Cambodia and Myanmar, and in part, the Kingdom of Thailand. Because of the current situation in Myanmar, Japan has been withholding new Official Development Assistance (ODA) to Myanmar, so at this moment this money would be used mostly in Viet Nam, Cambodia and Laos, and this will create the 2nd East-West Corridor in the Mekong area which would actually be used as a pipeline of economic activities in that region. It would benefit further development not only of Viet Nam and Thailand but also other countries in the region.

Japan also pledged US$700,000 in technical assistance through the Asian Development Bank (ADB) to the Brunei Darussalam-Indonesia-Malaysia-Philippines-East Asian Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA) Project. BIMP-EAGA is the economic development program for the islands of Mindanao, Borneo and others in Brunei, the Republic of Indonesia, Malaysia and the Republic of the Philippines. Japan would also dispatch a study team to that region to find out the needs for development and investment for further assistance.

Prime Minister Koizumi today also pledged a US$100 million contribution for FY2004 to the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. With this additional funding, the Japanese contribution to this global fund would become US$265 million, an increase of US$65 million compared to the original pledge the Japanese Government made two years ago, when it pledged $US200 million.

In addition to this economic assistance and development assistance, Prime Minister Koizumi at the outset of today's meeting emphasized the importance of cooperation amongst the nations of ASEAN and Japan in the political and security field, especially the fight against terrorism, stopping the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and the technology related to the delivery systems of WMD, especially missiles, anti-piracy measures as well as the fight against human trafficking.

In order to achieve these goals, Prime Minister Koizumi emphasized the importance of information exchange, capacity-building and the coordinated training for enhancing the skills of these very important tasks to be shared by the authorities, officials and related agencies.

Prime Minister Koizumi also touched upon the North Korean issue, saying that Japan and the other nations were now making further effort to resolve the North Korean nuclear issue through the six-party talks, and the nations concerned, especially the People's Republic of China, the United States and the Republic of Korea are making further efforts to hold a second round of six-party talks as early as possible.

In addition to that, Prime Minister Koizumi said Japan is also seeking a comprehensive solution of the issues relating to North Korea including nuclear weapons development, missile development and abduction cases. Through this comprehensive solution, Prime Minister Koizumi said that Japan intends to achieve the normalization of the relations between North Korea and Japan. Prime Minister Koizumi asked for further support from other ASEAN leaders to that cause.

Future direction of Japan-ASEAN relations

Mr. Takashima: After these remarks, the conference went into the discussion of the future direction of ASEAN-Japan relations. Many leaders emphasized the importance of having a political and security dialogue as well as a coordinated effort, especially to conduct anti-terrorism activities by sharing information, capacity-building and other measures.

In addition to that, many leaders emphasized the importance of further economic collaboration and cooperation through the EPA amongst the members and Japan. Many nations expressed their wish to see further assistance from Japan, especially to the less developed member nations of ASEAN, namely Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Viet Nam.

The leaders of Cambodia and Viet Nam specifically mentioned the desirability of having assistance for the construction of a railroad between Phnom Penh and Ho Chi Minh City, or former Saigon, in order to connect what they call the "missing link" in that region. To that, Prime Minister Koizumi replied that he would take this request as part of the future agenda.

The leaders of Brunei and Viet Nam expressed their hope of going into a free trade agreement (FTA) or EPA negotiation with Japan following the case of the Republic of Singapore, Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines. Japan would consider this but in the case of Viet Nam, since it is not a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) yet, it would be rather difficult to go into the discussion at the early stage.

Some leaders emphasized the importance of tackling the issue of illegal drugs, and Prime Minister Khin Nyunt of Myanmar asked for Japanese assistance by opening the market for alternative agricultural products to be planted instead of poppies in that country.

Also, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo of the Philippines and Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong of Singapore praised Prime Minister Koizumi's decision to dispatch the Self-Defense Forces (SDF) to Iraq for the assistance of humanitarian, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts by Iraqi people, saying that the decision was very courageous and that the fight against terrorism should be continued. President Arroyo expressed her determination to pursue all terrorists in her country.

Tokyo Declaration for the Dynamic and Enduring Japan-ASEAN Partnership in the New Millennium

Mr. Takashima: After those exchanges of views, at the conclusion, Prime Minister Koizumi as chairman said that taking the Tokyo Declaration, which was adopted at today's meeting, as the stepping stone for further cooperation and collaboration between Japan and ASEAN to the direction of the creation of an East Asian community, with the spirit of acting together and advancing together, a true partnership.

With these remarks the two-day conference was concluded and they went into the signing ceremony of the Tokyo Declaration. I think you have the text of the Tokyo Declaration and the press release is available downstairs at the press working room.

Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC)

Mr. Takashima: Later, Minister for Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Foreign Affairs Hassan Wirayuda signed a document which acknowledged Japan's intention to enter the Treaty of Amity and Cooperation (TAC) and that signing will be taking place in due course.

Bilateral meetings between Japan and the Lao People's Democratic Republic and the Union of Myanmar

Mr. Takashima: I would like to touch upon the bilaterals between Japan and Laos and Myanmar. Between Laos and Japan, the Lao Prime Minister asked for Japanese help for all the activities it has to do during next year when Laos will be the chair country of ASEAN.

At the meeting between Prime Minister Koizumi and Prime Minister Khin Nyunt of Myanmar, Prime Minister Khin Nyunt said that the Government of Myanmar is making efforts to promote the road map process for the democratization of that nation and he regards the forthcoming national convention a very important event for the further promotion of democratization and also the promotion of the road map. He said that an important factor is the participation from minorities as well as National League for Democracy (NLD). As far as NLD is concerned, the invitation was extended and the Myanmar Government was waiting for a reply from NLD. He also added that the Myanmar Government is well aware of the concern expressed by the international community.

In response, Prime Minister Koizumi said that it is extremely important to receive cooperation from the international community for the development of Myanmar. He said that the Myanmar Government should make further efforts realizing the international community's wish for the democratization of Myanmar. He also said that Japan would like to see the Myanmar Government make further efforts to proceed with the road map and democratization so that the Japanese Government can offer further assistance to that country. Those were the major exchanges of views between the prime ministers of Myanmar and Japan.

Question on the breakdown of the funds pledged during the summit

Q: The two sums of US$1.5 billion that you mentioned, is that new money? Did it come out of the official ODA classification?

Mr. Takashima: Some of the money has already been pledged. It is an accumulation of the projects related to capacity-building and human development, and the other one is the Mekong Delta development program. For example, the money pledged to the construction of the second bridge connecting Laos and Viet Nam has already been announced and it is included in this.

Q: The personnel exchanges of the other US$1.5 billion dollars, that is new, right?

Mr. Takashima: That is not only the personnel exchanges but the capacity-building and the human development. That is actually the kind of accumulation of the new pledge and existing project. The money will be spent three years from now.

Q: How of that money is new? How much of the pledge is new?

Mr. Takashima: I am sorry. I do not have that information.

Question on the target date for achieving a regional economic partnership

Q: I want to confirm what Prime Minister Koizumi said at the beginning of the summit. I believe you said Prime Minister Koizumi talked about wanting to achieve a regional economic partnership by 2014.

Mr. Takashima: That was already pledged at the Japan-ASEAN Summit Meeting that took place during the ASEAN+3 Summit in Bali.

Q: Was that not 2012?

Mr. Takashima: No. The negotiation will start in 2005 and in ten years' time it should be materialized, so by the end of 2014.

Question on whether or not Aung San Suu Kyi was mentioned during the summit meeting

Q: I just wanted to follow up on Aung San Suu Kyi's case. Just to confirm, I know you said her case was not brought up at yesterday's summit meeting and I assume it was not brought up today, but was it?

Mr. Takashima: The case of Aung San Suu Kyi was not brought up during the course of the summit meeting, but it was brought up in bilateral talks between Prime Minister Koizumi and Prime Minister Khin Nyunt.

Q: So did Prime Minister Koizumi specifically mention her name?

Mr. Takashima: He used her name in collaboration with NLD.

Q: Did he ask for the Myanmar Government to release her?

Mr. Takashima: He only used the words "democratization" and "further progress."