Embassy of Japan

Press Releases

Press Releases 2004

Japan-U.S. Foreign Minister's Meeting (10/24, Tokyo)

Embassy of Japan

October 25, 2004

In less than three weeks after their first meeting in Washington, Secretary of State Colin L. Powell and Foreign Minister Nobutaka Machimura held a conference in Tokyo on October 24th. The meeting lasted for about an hour and a half, including a lunch at the end. In a press conference after the meeting, Minister Machimura characterized the meeting as a “very good opportunity to show how constructive and solid the Japanese-U.S. relationship is," while Secretary Powell summed up the fruitful outcome of the meeting by emphasizing that “the United States and Japan have been global partners for so many years.”

The topics of the meeting extended from the BSE issue, Iraq and Afghanistan, transformation of the U.S. forces, North Korea, United Nations reforms and China.

1. BSE
Secretary Powell and Minister Machimura welcomed the agreement reached at the Director-General level consultations ended on October 23rd, regarding this agreement as a major progress toward a complete solution. They shared the view that based on the agreement both parties take necessary procedures toward the resumption of beef trade.

2. Iraq
Secretary Powell expressed appreciation for Japan’s economic assistance to Iraq and the deployment of Japan’s Self Defense Force. The Secretary highly evaluated Japan’s hosting the Third Donor Committee Meeting and the Expanded Meeting of the International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq (IRFFI) in Tokyo on October 13th and 14th. Secretary Powell and Minister Machimura shared the understanding that it is necessary to be cooperative in order to ensure successful elections in January 2005.

3. Afghanistan
Secretary Powell and Minister Machimura agreed upon the satisfactory and peaceful results of the presidential election on October 9th and 10th. In response to Secretary Powell’s appreciation for Japan’s assistance to Afghanistan, Minister Machimura expressed Japan’s will to continue its efforts in cooperatively combating terrorism.

4. Japan-U.S. Security Arrangements
On the issue of transformation of the U.S. forces in Japan, Secretary Powell and Minister Machimura agreed to commit themselves to working on the issue based on discussions on assessment of the international situation and strategies of both countries.

5. North Korea
Secretary Powell and Minister Machimura agreed that it is important to resume the Six-Party talks as soon as possible, and that Japan and the U.S. will continue to cooperate with South Korea, China and Russia.

In addition, Secretary Powell and Minister Machimura discussed the subjects of United Nations reforms and China.

After the Foreign Minister’s meeting, Secretary Powell conducted a meeting with Prime Minister Koizumi for about half an hour, in which they discussed the general relationship between the U.S. and Japan, the BSE issue, transformation of the U.S. forces, Iraq and North Korea. During the meeting, Secretary Powell reconfirmed the friendly relationship between Japan and the U.S., embodied by the close, frequent dialogues.