Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and the U.S. President George Bush heading for the working lunch
On March 19, 2001, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori held the first Summit Meeting and the working lunch with the President George W. Bush of the United States at the White House, in Washington, D.C. Members of the Summit Meeting included U.S. Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and U.S. Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld from the U.S. Government, and Minister of State Taro Aso (economic and fiscal policy) from the Japanese Government. More members joined in the working lunch, including Vice President Richard B. Cheney, Secretary of Treasury Pail Henry O'Neill, and the U.S. Trade Representative Robert Bruce Zoellick. Through the dialogue during the summit meeting and the working lunch, the two leaders conducted meaningful exchange of opinions over a wide range of topics, including Ehime Maru accident, further strengthening of the Japan-U.S. alliance, the need to address the challenges facing their two economies and pursuing appropriate their economic policies, enhancement of the Japan-U.S dialogue to address global, regional, and bilateral economic and trade issues, issue of missile defense, regional problems such as North Korea, and the reform of the U.N. Security Council. The two leaders shared the same view on many aspects. Joint Statement was issued after the working lunch.