Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori met with President Frederick Jacob Titus Chiluba of the Republic of Zambia, visiting Japan at the invitation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The Prime Minister explained Japan's stance on United Nations reform and appealed for the President's understanding and cooperation. President Chiluba was in Japan to attend the Okinawa International Conference on Infectious Diseases, held in Ginowan, Okinawa Prefecture, as a follow-up event to the Kyushu-Okinawa Summit, and he delivered a keynote address to the conference on December 7.
Representatives of participants in the twenty-seventh cruise of the Ship for Southeast Asian Youth paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori. In attendance were 30 representatives of young people in Japan and nine Southeast Asian countries, along with 10 representatives of the families accepting them for home stays in each country. While speaking with them, the Prime Minister said, "I hope you will make the most of the experience of the cruise and serve as a bridge of friendship between Japan and the countries of Southeast Asia, thereby contributing to peace and friendship in the international community in the new century."
At an extraordinary meeting, the Cabinet approved the government draft of the budget for fiscal 2001 (April 2001-March 2002). With general account spending of 82.65 trillion yen, the draft aims to place Japan firmly on a self-sustaining path to recovery while creating a new development base for the twenty-first century, improve both the efficiency and the quality of national finance, and reduce the issuance of government bonds.
The opening ceremony was held for the government-sponsored Internet Fair 2001 Japan, nicknamed "Inpaku" and billed as an event for "free networking in free categories." The ceremony took place at Omuyama Athletic Field in Naha, Okinawa Prefecture, with a relay to the Prime Minister's Official Residence. Speaking over the relay, Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori declared the fair officially open, saying, "Japan has staged the first Internet fair in world history. Let us hope that it becomes a new international event and cultural vessel in the twenty-first century." Inpaku website: http://www.inpaku.go.jp