Opening Statement by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at the Press Conference on the 4th Asia-Europe Meeting iASEM4j September 24, 2002 Copenhagen, Denmark

Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen. On this visit to Denmark I attended the 4th Summit of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM). I engaged in very active exchanges of views on stepping up relations between the two regions in various areas including political, economic and cultural, amongst others. Also, in the wings of the Meeting, I had one-on-one meetings with President Kim Dae-Jung of the Republic of Korea, Prime Minister Zhu Rongji of the People's Republic of China, President Jacques Chirac of the French Republic, and President Romano Prodi of the European Commission. This indeed has been a very meaningful visit. At the ASEM Summit Meeting I explained about my recent visit to North Korea and underscored the need for the international community to continue to work on North Korea on such issues as security and humanitarian issues. My visit to North Korea was highly appreciated by the leaders of the participating countries. I also appealed to the leaders to step up cooperation between Asia and Europe in our fight against terrorism, on World Trade Organization (WTO) related issues, as well as education-related issues, and I believe that all of the leaders have been able to share awareness on these matters. We saw three documents come out of the meeting: The ASEM Copenhagen Political Declaration for Peace on the Korean Peninsula, The ASEM Copenhagen Declaration on Cooperation against International Terrorism and the Chairman's Statement. In all of these, I believe that the leaders' resolve, as well as concrete measures to contribute to world stability and prosperity through Asia-Europe cooperation, are reflected. Following this meeting, Japan will replace China as the Asian Coordinator for ASEM, alongside Viet Nam, and as a bridge between Asia and Europe, Japan shall continue to play an active role. Thank you very much.