Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi attended the United Nations World Conference on Disaster Reduction held in Kobe City.

The conference is being held for the purpose of establishing a new international guiding framework for disaster reduction for the 21st century that aims to reduce damage caused by disasters around the world. The members of the United Nations, international organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are taking part in this conference being held from January 18 to 22 in Kobe on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the Great Hanshin-Awaji Earthquake.

On the first day of the conference, Prime Minister Koizumi said in the host country statement, "The earthquake and tsunami that struck in the waters off Sumatra Island in Indonesia at the end of last year have wrought an unprecedented level of damage on the countries around the Indian Ocean. As a fellow Asian partner, Japan will take a leading role in carrying out recovery and rehabilitation in the affected countries. I invite all of you to join me in putting our heads together on ways to further intensify our cooperative efforts to reduce the damage caused by natural disasters at this conference in Kobe, a city which has traveled down the road to recovery since the great earthquake a decade ago. Japan will spare no effort in promoting the highest level of international cooperation on the sharing of information and knowledge, the contribution of human resources and technical support, and financial recovery support."