Press Conference by the Chief Cabinet Secretary (Excerpt)

Q&As

REPORTER:Could you tell us about the content of your meeting with the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Myanmar?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA:This is the first visit for 16 years of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Myanmar at the invitation of the Government of Japan. Japan and Myanmar has enjoyed the friendly ties from long ago, and following various issues with the administration of Myanmar, last year a general election was held, which duly signifies that Myanmar has started along the road to democratization. Given this background, I sought to welcome the first visit of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Myanmar in 16 years. As you know, this visit has come following moves by the Government of Myanmar to engage in democratization efforts, including in relations with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the release of political prisoners. I exchanged views with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, stating that I hoped that such democratization efforts would continue and that relations with Japan, including cultural and economic aspects as well as economic cooperation and people-to-people exchanges would be implemented actively and that exchanges between Japan and Myanmar would continue to develop and progress to the next stage.

(Abridged)

REPORTER:With regard to the basic policy for the revival of agriculture, forestry and fishery industries that was completed recently, I believe that this was originally started on the basis of a Cabinet decision last year in relation to economic cooperation. However, looking at the content of the basic policy, it would seem that there is very little reference to economic cooperation, including, for example, a direct payment system or fiscal resources. Why is there such a paucity of economic-related content?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA:Today the draft Basic Policy and Action Plan for the Realization of the Revival of the Food, Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishery Industries were completed. Following the Cabinet decision last year, work has been ongoing and on August 2 this year an interim report was submitted. The Basic Policy and Action Plan for the Realization of the Revival of the Food, Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishery Industries have now been compiled. In the meeting of the Headquarters to Promote the Revival of the Food, Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishery Industries on Tuesday next week this Basic Policy and Action Plan are scheduled to be approved. This time, we finally shaped our thought that the revival of the food, agriculture, forestry and fishery industries in Japan is an issue that needs to be advanced regardless of what decision is made on the participation in negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) Agreement. The drafts have been compiled with the aim of providing a five-year policy and plan, through which the Government will advance a new agriculture, forestry and fisheries administration that will revive these industries and provide security for the next generation of people engaged in them. I believe that at the same time as this press conference Senior Vice Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Tsutsui is also giving a press conference in which the text of the draft policy and plan will be announced. Although there have been some press reports concerning the enhancement of direct payments to farmers in view of the Japan-Australia Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) negotiations, there is no reference to "enhancement" in the documents. The reform of the direct payment system is one of the items for specific consideration under the basic policy and action plan.

REPORTER:On a related note, with regard to whether the Government will participate in TPP negotiations, given that a decision is required, perhaps by the end of November, do you think that agricultural and fisheries operators will be accepting this draft basic policy and action plan, which are so lacking in specificity, including the direct payment system, for example?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA:Today the chairman of the Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives has given his approval of the basic policy and action plan, and the members of the organization have also indicated their approval. On the other hand it is also the case that members from the industry have urged the Government to engage in more proactive discussions on the TPP negotiations.

(Abridged)

REPORTER:Today a meeting of the Nuclear Safety Commission (NSC) submitted a revised recommendation, calling for the expansion of Emergency Planning Zones (EPZ) for disaster preparedness to a radius of 30km. Do you think that such a measure would have an influence on the scope of local understanding when we say local understanding concerning the issue of the restarting of operations at nuclear power stations?

CHIEF CABINET SECRETARY FUJIMURA:First of all, to be more precise, the proposal was submitted from the secretariat of the working group established under the Special Committee on Nuclear Disasters of the NSC. This has already been reported in the evening editions of the newspapers, including diagrams and commentary. The proposal is still part of an ongoing process. I believe your question concerned the impact the revision of EPZ would have on the scope of local governments of which approval is needed for the restarting of operations at power stations. What is most important when seeking to restart operations at power stations is to gain the understanding and cooperation of the local governments where the power stations are actually located, but it is also important to listen to the opinions of neighboring local governments. This is something I have stated on frequent occasions to date and there will be various discussions from now on a case-by-case basis with the various operators of the power stations and local governments. It is based on these discussions that the Government will make an overall decision.