The Third Meeting of the Overseas Economic Cooperation Council
- The Third Meeting of the Overseas Economic Cooperation Council was held on August 10, from 9:00 to 10:10.
- At the meeting, issues on economic cooperation in the field of natural resources and energy, trade and investment were discussed. Chief Cabinet Secretary, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister of Finance, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry attended the meeting; Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, also attended the meeting in the discussion of trade and investment given his strong involvement in the subject.
- On natural resources and energy, it was discussed how Japan should ensure its energy security, and it was confirmed that :
-Japan will continue to make good use of JBIC's international financial operations and trade insurance in order to secure Japan's right to develop energy resources such as oil and gas, and will strengthen relations with resource-rich countries and build a favorable environment for the development of resources through ODA ;
-Japan will cooperate in the field of energy-saving especially with China and India, which consume a large amount of energy, with a view to improving their energy efficiency ;
-While ensuring nuclear non-proliferation and the security of nuclear energy, Japan will provide technical cooperation and assistance for private projects in order that developing countries particularly in Asia can develop and use nuclear energy.
- On trade and investment, the interaction and dynamics between ODA and WTO/EPA negotiations was discussed.
In specific, the resolve for resuming the suspended Doha Round negotiations and efforts to realize its early conclusion were reconfirmed. It was also agreed that the resumption of the WTO negotiations is crucial for development.
In addition, given the strong emphasis to development in the current round of WTO negotiations, it was confirmed that Japan will help developing countries increase the ability and expand the opportunity of trade by steadily implementing trade related economic cooperation measures and duty-free and quota-free market access for the LDCs based on the Development Initiative for Trade which Japan announced last year.
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