Welcoming Remarks by Minister for Foreign Affairs Makiko Tanaka
At the Reception on the Eve of the International Conference on Reconstruction to Afghanistan

Sunday 20 January, Tokyo
Japanese

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Did you notice the extremely beautiful, but painfully sad singing voice that has just filled the air in this room? This was the voice of the girls whom I met when I visited the Shamshatoo refugee camp near Peshawar, Pakistan. They sang for me this song about their longing for home. They were among the refugees from Afghanistan, and I can still hear in my mind their pure singing voices. In the refugee camp, I also met a man who had lost his legs. I could not forget how I felt when I saw him making shoes that he himself will never wear. That was the moment when I swore to myself to do whatever I could to build a bright future for the motherland of these people, Afghanistan.

Four months have already passed since the terrible incident of September 11th. Looking back now, what have we learned from this tragedy? What became clear to me is that "violence can change nothing at all".

Since the attacks of September 11th, the future of Afghanistan has received the attention of the entire world. This country has suffered about twenty years of war. However, the efforts by the people of Afghanistan, supported by the international community, resulted in the liberation of the country from the rule of the Taliban and the establishment of the Interim Authority. What we should never forget, however, is that we must maintain a long-term perspective to bring about stability and prosperity in this country. I have heard that, in Afghanistan, a person dies every five minutes, and that the number of refugees and internally displaced persons increases as fast as one every minute. The situation is indeed extremely grave.

Ethnic groups, by nature, cooperate with each other and live side-by-side. However, confrontations among ethnic groups can result from external factors such as political, military and economic causes. I understand that such a view is also shared among anthropologists. This analysis indeed supports my conviction that "the success of conflict prevention depends on whether or not people can respect diversity". Now is the time for us to go back to the basics to tackle the challenges faced by Afghanistan and to provide whatever assistance we can.

The challenges faced by Afghanistan concern not only the country itself, but also the humanity as a whole. In other words, these are my challenges, and your challenges as well. Although time is limited during this Conference, let us do our utmost and work together.

Thank you for your attention.