iProvisional Translationj Opening Statement by Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi at the Press Conference on 10th APEC Economic Leaders Meeting October 27, 2002

Ladies and gentlemen of the press, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation Leaders Meeting this time was held in this bright and open Los Cabos, Mexico, true to the open regionalism that APEC aspires to. In the wings of the meeting I also had one-on-one meetings, candid exchanges of views, with the leaders of Russia, Chile, Indonesia, and China. I would describe the results of the Leaders Meeting this time as follows. First of all, we made clear once again that, as leaders, we take the series of terrorist attacks in various parts of the world seriously and we are determined to stand united in our fight against terrorism. It was agreed that APEC member countries will in more specific forms work on their counter-terrorism measures. Second, we sent out a strong message that effort on free trade agreements (FTAs) and structural reform for further liberalization and facilitation of trade and investment in the APEC region be taken, and new round talks of the World Trade Organization (WTO) be promoted. Third, we reaffirmed by issuing an APEC Leaders' Statement our position to call upon North Korea to live up to its commitment to abandon its nuclear development program in a visible manner and our commitment to achieve a peaceful resolution of this issue. In order to facilitate the movement of businessmen in the APEC region, we also announced that Japan, beginning in the next fiscal year, will participate in the APEC Business Travel Card system. In my meeting with Prime Minister Kashnaryov of Russia, I expressed our condolences to the victims of the theater takeover incident this time and also communicated to him that we will maintain close contacts as we promote counter-terrorism measures. I also expressed to him my expectations for the visit that I will be making to Russia in January of next year. In the Japan-US-ROK trilateral leaders' meeting, the three of us, President George W. Bush, President Kim Dae-Jung, and I, agreed that we would maintain close coordination with each other vis-a-vis North Korea. We agreed that first North Korea should abandon its uranium enrichment program in a prompt and verifiable manner and also that we shall seek that North Korea fully lives up to all relevant international obligations by observing its commitments contained in the Japan-DPRK Pyongyang Declaration. We also agreed that we shall continue to maintain close contacts amongst us. In my meeting with President Ricardo Lagos of Chile we agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation. In my meeting with President Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia I discussed the efforts at countering terrorism following the bombing in Bali and also on various reform efforts in Indonesia. In my meeting with President Jiang Zemin of China, I engaged in a very candid exchange of views on various issues, including the North Korean nuclear development issue, and agreed to further strengthen cooperation between Japan and China in the interests of peace and stability of the region. I would like to express respect from my heart to President Fox of Mexico, who demonstrated the outstanding chairmanship at this meeting. I shall now, following this conference, be meeting with President Fox and I will be exchanging views with him on bilateral cooperation, including the launching of the negotiations for an agreement to strengthen the economic partnership between our two countries.