(Provisional Translation)

Opening Statement by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Prime Minister John Howard of Australia at the joint Press Conference

Canberra, May 1, 2002

Prime Minister John Howard of Australia: The Prime Minister, ladies and gentlemen, the Prime Minister of Japan, and I and my senior colleagues have had lengthy discussions this morning. The relationship between Australia and Japan is a very close, diverse and, from both countries point of view, an extremely important relationship. Despite its strength, we in Australia believe, to use a phrase of my Foreign Minister's at the discussion this morning, we believe that we should be ambitious about the future of the relationship. And in that context, we discussed the security interests that both of us have in the region. Australia welcomes warmly Japan's contribution, some hundreds of engineers in East Timor and we see that kind of security involvement by Japan in the region in an extremely positive light, not only given the size and the strength of Japan in the region and in the world, but also given the common values that Australia and Japan have. And I repeated Australia's support for Japan becoming a permanent member of the Security Council of the United Nations. The economic and trade relationship, of course, is very important. Japan for decades has been Australia's best customer, and I suspect that will continue. I hope it does for many decades into the future. I want to thank the business councils of the two countries, chaired respectively by Mr. Morgan of Australia and Mr. Murofushi of Japan, for the contribution that they have made to deepening economic ties between our two societies. We both want to see even deeper economic and trade relationships. Both the Prime Minister and I see the ultimate goal of a free trade agreement between our two countries as something to be worked towards. It will not be easy; it will need to be taken step-by-step; there are difficulties; clearly, an issue such as agriculture is one of those matters that will need to be worked through carefully. But both of us see it as a desirable goal to work towards, and we have specifically agreed that the head of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, Dr. Ashton Calvert, and his Vice-Minister counterpart from Japan will meet soon to discuss the framework for discussions and negotiations about future closer economic and trade relationships. It will not be a quickly achieved goal but it is a goal worth working towards. Finally, can I say that the most important thing in the end about our relationship with Japan is that we have common values and common beliefs and practices. We are both liberal democracies. We have cooperated very closely in the fight against terrorism. We see the security relationship between our two countries vis-a-vis the United States as extremely important. And we again endorse the value of a trilateral security dialogue at a senior level, Vice-Minister, Foreign Minister-level, Foreign Affairs head-level rather, between Australia, Japan, and the United States. But can I finally say to the Prime Minister how delighted I am on a personal basis for him to be here in Australia. He has been to Australia before on a number of occasions, but this is his first visit as Prime Minister. He is very, very warmly welcome, and it is nice to be able to return some of the gracious hospitality that he extended to me in Tokyo last August. Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan: At this time, I was greeted by the warm welcome extended by Prime Minister Howard as well as the distinguished representatives of the Australian Government, and I am very grateful. The tete-a-tete meeting with Prime Minister Howard, I believe, was most candid and very useful. I explained to him about Japan's reforms. However fraught with difficulties they may be, I shall carry through such reforms. Prime Minister Howard has, with strong determination, carried forward his reforms. I have also been faced with numerous difficulties, but my enthusiasm and passion for these reforms and determination to work through reforms is the same. Reforms in Japan have been proceeding smoothly and I should like to further accelerate the pace without relaxing the reign on reforms. So I should like to further carry out reforms in order to contribute to the revitalization of the Japanese economy. I received very encouraging support from Prime Minister Howard. Japan and Australia share common values, especially democracy, freedom, and as such we fight together against terrorism and together we are cooperating for the peace and stability in East Timor. So through our mutual cooperation we are making significant contributions and the Government of Japan highly value the significant contributions being made by Australia. In January this year I delivered a speech in Singapore. At that time, I spoke of an East Asian community that "acts together and advances together." As a future orientation, we should pursue, in considering the further development and stability of the East Asian region in the future, I believe the central role that Australia, as a core member of the community, can play would be significant. In the future, I hope that we will be able to build on concrete results that we will be achieving and further strengthen the cooperation between Japan and Australia. Prime Minister Howard expressed his concurrence. I believe that Japan and Australia, in a creative partnership, need to cooperate, and with that common perception we should approach numerous issues such as the World Trade Organization (WTO), Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), security issues, and so forth. We hope to further strengthen our partnership in these areas as well. Between Japan and Australia, of course, we find numerous differences. And in many respects we are mutually complementary. I believe we will be seeing expanding economic cooperation between our two countries and we will explore all options for strengthening economic relations between our two countries. I believe that we saw eye-to-eye on this score as well. I believe it was a very useful, very good meeting, and I am most gratified. I look forward to further growing this friendly relationship of mutual trust and contributing to our bilateral relations. Once again, thank you very much indeed for a very warm welcome. Thank you.