G8 Foreign Ministers' Meeting
(Summary)

September 14, 2002

The G8 Foreign Ministers' Meeting (working dinner) was held in New York in the evening of September 13. The following is a summary of the meeting. (Participating were Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoriko Kawaguchi; Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham (chair); French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin; U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell; German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer; Italian Prime Minister and concurrently Foreign Minister Silvio Berlusconi; Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov; Deputy Under-Secretary Peter Ricketts of the United Kingdom (attending as proxy); Danish Foreign Minister Per Stig Muler (President of EU); EU External Relations Commissioner Chris Patten; and EU Common Foreign and Security Policy Senior Representative Javier Solana.)

1. Iraq Situation

(1) Participants made statements praising the speech by U.S. President George W. Bush at the U.N. General Assembly on September 12 for, among other things, clarifying the central role of the United Nations in the Iraq problem and opening the door to cooperation between the United States and its allied countries. Participants also emphasized the need for cooperation toward the adoption of a new resolution by the Security Council and indicated the importance for the Arab countries to call on Iraq to implement the Security Council resolution.

(2) Foreign Minister Kawaguchi indicated the importance of Iraq's immediate, unconditional, and unqualified implementation of the Security Council resolution and praised President Bush's speech for clarifying the central role of the United Nations. Furthermore, Foreign Minister Kawaguchi stressed the importance of the solidarity and cooperation of the international community and indicated the importance of bilateral diplomatic efforts, explaining, among other things, her meeting with the Iranian foreign minister.

2. Middle East Peace

(1) Participants emphasized the need for progress in the Middle East peace process toward a settlement involving the establishment of two states, Israel and Palestine. They also indicated, among other things, the importance of reform of the Palestinian Authority, the importance of implementing free and fair elections in Palestine, and the importance of cooperation toward the improvement of the serious humanitarian situation in Palestine.

(2) Foreign Minister Kawaguchi indicated the importance to call for reform of the Palestinian Authority and support it, as well as the importance of efforts with a view to drawing up a road map toward the establishment of two states.

3. Measures Against International Terrorism

Participants pointed out the need to materialize the outcomes of the Kananaskis Summit and the Foreign Ministers' Meeting at Whistler, including the G8 Global Partnership, and the importance of promoting cooperation and work among G8 experts for this purpose.

4. India-Pakistan Situation

(1) Participants indicated the need to ease tension between India and Pakistan and the importance of continuing to call on them to resume their bilateral dialogue as early as possible.

(2) Foreign Minister Kawaguchi briefly explained about the meetings between Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and the prime minister of India and the president of Pakistan and pointed out the need to call on India to implement a free and fair assembly election in the state of Jammu and Kashmir and to urge Pakistan to recognize the importance of implementing the election without interference. At the same time, she expressed the hope that the general election in Pakistan in October would be implemented in a free and fair manner and that the government and the new parliament would build constructive and cooperative relations.

5. Korean Peninsula Situation

(1) Foreign Minister Kawaguchi expressed gratitude for the support that other countries had shown for Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to North Korea. After referring to the various problems that exist between Japan and North Korea, including the issues of the abduction of Japanese citizens, unidentified ships and missile launches, Foreign Minister Kawaguchi stated that discussions in the talks between Prime Minister Koizumi and North Korean leader Kim Jong Il on September 17 would be held with a view to the peace and stability of the region and of the international community as a whole, as well as the solution of said bilateral problems. Foreign Minister Kawaguchi further explained that Japan would decide whether or not to resume talks on the normalization of diplomatic ties between Japan and North Korea in the light of the results of these discussions.

(2) In response, the support for Prime Minister Koizumi's visit to North Korea and the hope that the visit would produce results were expressed. There was also the comment that it was important to relay to North Korea the importance of achieving progress in relations between North and South Korea.

6. Change of G8 Presidency

There was praise for the role of Canada as G8 President from January of this year, and the hope was expressed that G8 cooperative relations would further deepen under France as President from January of next year.