(Provisional Translation) Opening Statements at the Joint Press Conference by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen of the Kingdom of Denmark, EU Presidency, and President Romano Prodi of The European Commission Tokyo, July 8, 2002 Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi of Japan: Today we held the eleventh official meeting of Japan and the EU, in continuation to the December meeting in Brussels. Prime Minister Rasmussen assumed the presidency of the European Union on July 1, and the first foreign visit in his capacity as the President is to Japan, while Mr. Romano Prodi, President of the European Commission, visited Japan in April. I am delighted to welcome them both. In today's meeting, we confirmed that the Action Plan for EU-Japan Co-operation, which was adopted at our last Summit Meeting, has been steadily implemented, and that we would strive to further its development. We also exchanged views on new priority items for own co-operation. We had a frank exchange of views on international affairs and global issues such as environment issues including the Johannesburg Summit and the Kyoto Protocol, international economic issues including the promotion of the new round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) and our co-operation towards the ASEM Summit (Asia-Europe Meeting) in September. Furthermore, we designated 2005 as the "Japan-EU Year of People-to-People Exchanges," confirming our commitment to promote people-to-people exchanges between Japan and the EU in a variety of fields. We will cooperate closely to advance the peace process in the Middle East. We also showed a view to continue to call on India and Pakistan for the reduction of tensions and the opening of dialogue between them. Concerning Afghanistan, we welcome the success of the emergency Loya Jerga and the formation of the Transitional Administration. In light of the extremely disturbing assassination of the Vice-President, Haji Abdul Quadir, we affirmed our continued support for Mr. Karzai's Transitional Administration and the necessity of close cooperation between Japan and the EU. In relation to North Korea, we showed a view to cooperate to encourage North Korea on security and humanitarian issues. At our previous Summit in Brussels, we were concerned that the world economy was facing a slowdown in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. But, since then, approximately seven months have passed and the Japanese economy has come to be declared that it has bottomed out, while the European economy is also on a recovery trend. To achieve sustainable economic growth globally, both Japan and the EU must advance structural reform. I have renewed my resolve to continue to advance structural reform. Dialogue between Japan and the EU is now so intensified, and I believe that the Japan-EU relationship has become closer than ever before. Through implementing the Action Plan for EU-Japan Cooperation, I would like to further develop our cooperative partnership. We were able today, to hold meaningful discussions, for 2 and half hours, including lunch. Thank you very much. Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen of the Kingdom of Denmark, EU Presidency: Thank you very much. As Prime Minister of Denmark, EU Presidency, let me extend my gratitude to Prime Minister Koizumi and the Japanese Government for hosting and organizing this summit. We have had a very fruitful meeting covering many areas, as you will see from our joint statement. Japan and the European Union are among the most important economic and political entities in the world. We exert a major influence on the economic and political developments in our respective regions as well as globally. Our summit has confirmed that the EU-Japan relations are dynamic and vibrant and I would like to point to some key results from our meeting. Firstly, we have decided to intensify our cooperation under the EU-Japan Action Plan. We have decided to step up our efforts to develop practical cooperation under the EU-Japan Action Plan. Secondly, we have agreed to cooperate closely on trade and we will work closely to strengthen the World Trade Organization (WTO). Thirdly, we have discussed sustainable development. By the end of August there will be a global summit on sustainable development in Johannesburg, South Africa. We have agreed to cooperate closely on the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg. The EU is working to promote a global deal at the summit. We see a need for concluding a global deal with the following key elements: better market access, more development assistance, good governance, and a better environment. The EU is looking forward to close cooperation with Japan in this respect. Fourthly, we have discussed a very important summit between 10 Asian countries and the 15 member states of the EU in Copenhagen in September, the so-called ASEM IV Summit. It is a very important summit that aims at strengthening the economic, political and cultural relations between Asia and Europe. I look forward to cooperating with Japan in preparation for that summit. Finally, I am pleased that Prime Minister Koizumi expressed his strong support for the enlargement of the European Union. Enlargement of the European Union will be the main task of the Danish presidency during the coming six months. Our goal is to conclude accession negotiations with up to 10 countries at the European Union Summit in Copenhagen in December. We have an historic duty to succeed on this historic opportunity. We must close definitively one of the dark chapters in Europe's history. Now we have an historic chance to reunite the earlier divided Europe and this is the top priority for the Danish Presidency of the European Union in the second half of this year. All in all, our meeting has reconfirmed the close ties between the European Union and Japan, and we will continue to develop these ties politically, economically, and within trade and investment. Thank you. President Romano Prodi of the European Commission: Just a few words, as I do not want to repeat what has already been said. This is the fourth time that I have had the pleasure to meet with Prime Minister Koizumi in a little more than six months, and we have always had frank and very interesting discussions. I am happy this time to have come to this beautiful new residence. At the beginning of our meeting today, Prime Minister Koizumi reminded me of what I had said in front of the Diet last time, that I think that Japan is a great leading power in the world-economic, political, scientific. And I am happy that in the last month new figures are expressing some better developments, as is the case in Europe where we are slowly but steadily improving. We have the same destiny in this period: We have to change our economy; we have to change our decision-making process, and; we have to exchange our views in order to work better in our own field. Europe in this terribly important year, 2002, had three goals: the euro, which has already been introduced; the enlargement, which is the great mission that we have, and; the change of our institutions through a big convention that has already started its work. We understand that the process of change is indispensable also for economic growth and so we have exchanged our views about the necessity of taking painful decisions, but these decisions will have positive results in the long run. For our bilateral relations there is simply one statement: Never so good-the relationship between Japan and the European Union has never been so intense and it has never been so good. We share, I think, almost all our common goals. The discussion was about how to better organize this work and not about conflict or different dividing interests. We have demonstrated this with the Action Plan, with the agreement on technology, and with a lot of dictates that I do not want to mention now. I want only to stress a common responsibility that we share and that will be materialized at the Johannesburg Summit-we must be the bridge between the first and the third worlds. Japan has been one of the big countries, the most open and most helpful countries for foreign aid. We have to go on in this direction; we have to intensify, especially on the European Union side, this effort, because we are in front of a big risk, that is, of having strong relations among developed wealthy countries while forgetting about the other countries. That would lead to a disaster. The commitment for Johannesburg is strong, because if there is no agreement, in all this field of sustainable development between the European Union and Japan, we will not get any results. If we want the Kyoto Protocol to have some results we have to stick together. If we want Doha to be a success only the European Union and Japan can make it possible. If we want the Johannesburg Summit to be a success for aid and development only agreement between the European Union and Japan makes this possible. Today it was this common goal and common vision that was the most important result of this meeting. Thank you.