Japan-Italy Summit Talks (Summary)
3 June 2008
Prime Minister Fukuda held Japan-Italy Summit Talks with Prime Minister Berlusconi for approximately 45 minutes from 17:37 on 3 June 2008 (Tuesday) at the Italian Prime Minister's Office. A summary of the meeting is as follows.
(Points)
- The talks served to deepen the ties of trust between the two leaders ahead of the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit due to take place in July.
- Prime Minister Berlusconi expressed his intention to cooperate for the G8 Summit this year. The two leaders agreed that Japan and Italy, as G8 President of this and next year, would strengthen their partnership for the success of the G8 Summit, and cooperate together in the various issues that the international community faces.
Summary of the Japan-France Summit Talks
1. Bilateral relations
Regarding bilateral relations, Prime Minister Berlusconi opened the talks by stating that when meeting with Prime Minister Fukuda at the FAO Headquarters High Level Conference, he had listened to Prime Minister Fukuda's speech with great interest, and was delighted to meet with him for talks once again. He stated that up until now he had never visited Japan, and was very happy to have the opportunity to visit the country on the occasion of G8 Summit.
In response, Prime Minister Fukuda offered his congratulations to Prime Minister Berlusconi on his being nominated as prime minister for the third time, stated that the relations between the two countries were extremely good. He went on to say that he appreciated the Primavera Italiana 2007 held last year and welcomed the Autunno Italiano to be held next year, and that he hoped to further strengthen Japan's cooperative relations with Italy, which will host G8 Summit next year.
2. G8 Summit
Regarding the G8 Summit, Prime Minister Fukuda stated that the international community is experiencing dramatic changes, and the peoples of each country is working about the future of economy, especially issues such as the sharp rise in crude oil and food prices, food shortages and the instability of financial markets. He went on to state that he believed that climate change was an issue which the whole international community would have to tackle, and that the leaders at the G8 Summit would have to discuss these issues and find the path towards the solution.
In response, Prime Minister Berlusconi stated that he had hosted G8 twice in 1994 and 2001, and that he would take on this role from Prime Minister Fukuda next year once again. He went on to say that as Prime Minister Fukuda had said, the current state of the international community is alarming. He stated that in addition to economic issues, there were uncertain factors in international politics. In this sense, it was essential to deal with some difficult issues at this year's G8 Summit. He went on to say that as most of the topics of the Hokkaido Toyako Summit would continue to be addressed in the next year's G8 Summit, he would cooperate fully for the success of this year's Summit, and take over the results to the Summit next year.
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