Saturday, January 31, 2009

The Prime Minister Attends the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (Davos Meeting)

On January 31 (local time), Prime Minister Taro Aso visited Davos in the Swiss Confederation to attend the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (Davos Meeting).

Prime Minister Aso first held talks with Mr. Hans-Rudolf Merz, President of the Swiss Confederation. Prime Minister Aso stated that he welcomed the development of bilateral cooperative relations between Japan and Switzerland in a wide range of areas, including the preparations being made towards the signing of the Agreement on Free Trade and Economic Partnership between Japan and the Swiss Confederation (JSFTEPA). Prime Minister Aso also conveyed his wish to deepen cooperative relations with Switzerland through policy dialogues at various levels. In response, President Merz stated that he sincerely welcomed the promotion of policy dialogues.

Prime Minister Aso then held talks with Mr. Gordon Brown, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. At the beginning of the meeting, the prime ministers each gave explanations of the current economic situations of the respective countries as well as their economic countermeasures. The leaders exchanged views on agenda items that require further discussion prior to the second Summit on Financial Markets and the World Economy (London Summit) scheduled to be held on April 2.

After the meeting, Prime Minister Aso delivered a special address, entitled "My Prescriptions for Reviving the World Economy." In his address, the Prime Minister shared his thoughts on what the world should do, and the role of Japan within that context, given that the world economy was facing a crisis.

In addition to "emergency first aid," such as the necessity of expeditious disposal of financial institutions' non-performing loans and also of capital injections using public funds, the Prime Minister stated that it was also necessary to build up the health of the economy and fortify its strength as part of measures to address the financial crisis. To be specific, Prime Minister Aso stressed the importance of the reformulation of market rules, including the introduction of a supervisory system for financial markets and regulation of credit rating agencies. The Prime Minister expressed Japan's intention to act in cooperation with other countries towards the early conclusion of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Doha Round negotiations, in a concerted effort to avoid retreat into protectionism.

Prime Minister Aso stated that correcting the global imbalance that had arisen from dependence on external demand and insufficient internal demand was imperative in order to put the world economy back onto a stable growth trajectory. He said, "I feel keenly that the restoration of vitality to the Japanese economy, the second-largest in the world, is Japan's foremost duty," and went on to explain Japan's economic stimulus package on a scale of approximately 75 trillion yen.

Prime Minister Aso furthermore described measures to build up the health of the world economy and fortify its strength, such as providing funding of 10 billion yen as emergency assistance to Asia, doubling Japan's ODA for Africa and providing support for doubling private investment to Africa, and security measures and reconstruction assistance for the Middle East. The Prime Minister also spoke of measures to address climate change, including the Cool Earth Partnership.

After delivering the address, Prime Minister Aso attended a closed session on climate change and a luncheon with business leaders. Later, Prime Minister Aso held talks with Mr. Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Denmark. At the meeting, the leaders mainly discussed environmental issues. Prime Minister Rasmussen, who will chair the fifteenth session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP15), stated that involvement at the summit level was important for the success of COP15. In response, Prime Minister Aso, while referring to the results of the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit of last year, stressed that the participation of major economies, such as the United States and China, in a post-2012 framework was essential. He expressed his wish to cooperate closely with Denmark to that end.

Related Link

• Special Address by H.E. Mr. Taro Aso, Prime Minister of Japan
  On the Occasion of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum "My Prescriptions for Reviving the World Economy"
• Special Address by H.E. Mr. Taro Aso, Prime Minister of Japan
  On the Occasion of the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum "My Prescriptions for Reviving the World Economy" [Full text]
• World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2009 (Ministry of Foreign Affairs)