Top �� What's up around the Prime Minister �� December, 2003

Prime Minister Encourages Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) to be Dispatched to Iraq Wednesday, December 24, 2003 Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited the Komaki Air Base of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) in Komaki City, Aichi Prefecture to attend the ceremony for completing the organization of the unit of the JASDF to be dispatched to Iraq for humanitarian and reconstruction assistance activities. The JASDF completed organizing a unit that will carry out transportation activities of medical and food supplies and other materials to various areas of Iraq, setting Kuwait as a base. An advance unit compiled from approximately 40 personnel is expected to leave for Kuwait and other regions by the end of the year. Prime Minister Koizumi, before the dispatch unit, gave his words of encouragement by saying, "Japan has received assistance from many countries since the end of World War II and has been developing up to the present. We are now in a position that we can provide assistance with the efforts of many of the people of Japan and cooperation of the international community. I believe your family members are most proud of your decisions and yourselves. I would like to express my sincere respect for your efforts and your sense of mission in leaving for Iraq. I strongly wish that you would respectably complete your mission and have a safe return."