Asia

 On December 14, the Fifth Mekong-Japan Summit Meeting (hereafter referred to as "the Mekong-Japan Summit") was held for approximately eighty minutes at the State Guest House in Tokyo. The outline of the Summit is as follows.  

 

1. The leaders carried out in the Summit a follow-up and interim evaluation of the "Tokyo Strategy 2012," in which they had set forth in the previous year a plan for Mekong-Japan cooperation up to 2015, and of the "Action Plan" for that Strategy. The leaders adopted the mid-term review of the "Tokyo Strategy 2012."

2. At the outset, Prime Minister Abe stated that the approximately 600 billion JPY in ODA support covering a three-year period from this fiscal year is progressing steadily as pledged at the previous Mekong-Japan Summit, and that a total of 200 billion JPY in support for the Mekong region is scheduled to be pledged or signed at a series of meetings being held during this period. He said Japan is enhancing support for the Mekong region and will continue to steadily implement that support going forward.

3. The Mekong countries' leaders expressed gratitude for the cooperation extended by Japan thus far, and stated that emphasis should be placed on challenges such as Mekong connectivity and narrowing development gaps, toward building the ASEAN Community in 2015. They expressed strong expectations of continued support from Japan.   

4. Regarding the improvement of the investment environment in the Mekong region, Prime Minister Abe welcomed the development of legal frameworks concerning investment between Japan and all the Mekong countries including the Japan-Myanmar Investment Agreement to be signed most recently, and said that via those frameworks, the Government of Japan wants to continue to cooperate on improvement of the investment environment in the future. In response, the Mekong countries' leaders expressed strong expectations of investment in the Mekong region by Japanese companies, in order to bring about further economic development in the Mekong region. 

5. Regarding the promotion of people-to-people exchanges between Japan and the Mekong region, Prime Minister Abe said the Government of Japan decided on measures to ease visa requirements for all Mekong countries this year. He welcomed the increase of the number of tourists from countries such as Thailand and Viet Nam, partly thanks to those measures. The leaders shared the view that they will continue to work to promote people-to-people exchanges in the future, including through the conclusion of aviation agreements between Japan and Cambodia and Laos. 

6. Moreover, the leaders confirmed cooperation between Japan and the Mekong region countries in areas including youth exchange, cultural exchange, the promotion of public-private cooperation, healthcare, the environment and climate change, and disaster risk reduction. 　

7. Furthermore, Prime Minister Abe mentioned that the Government of Japan has strengthened support for Myanmar in particular, and that both the public and private sectors of Japan will provide support to the efforts of the Government of Myanmar towards democratization, enhancement of the rule of law, economic reforms and national reconciliation. He said he hoped to work with the Mekong countries. Prime Minister Abe also expressed high expectations for Myanmar's leadership as it assumes the ASEAN presidency next year, and stated that the Government of Japan will make every effort to support Myanmar in discharging its responsibilities.

8. The leaders confirmed that the Sixth Mekong-Japan Summit Meeting will be jointly chaired by Japan and Myanmar in 2014.