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On this trip I have visited five member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), and each of the leaders of those countries expressed their gratitude for the assistance and cooperation as well as the goodwill friendship and collaboration extended to them by Japan. I strongly felt that, for its part Japan must respond to these expressions of gratitude for the assistance it has provided. Twenty-five years ago then-Prime Minister Takeo Fukuda delivered a speech in Manila, and in the 25 years that have passed since then, relations between Japan and ASEAN member countries have steadily developed. The Koizumi Administration will cherish the results that have been achieved as a result of these efforts of 25 years, and maintain Japan's policy of attaching special importance to our relations with ASEAN. I had frank exchanges of views with each of the leaders with the goal of further expanding the framework of ASEAN+3 (Japan, People's Republic of China, Republic of Korea) into a broader future-oriented East Asian diplomacy built on this foundation of friendly and cooperative relations between Japan and ASEAN. I believe that all of the leaders understood my fundamental philosophy that we "act together and advance together" as "open and sincere partners."
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