Remarks by His Excellency Mr Hideaki Ueda Ambassador of Japan ...

successfully worked together to promote peace, stability and economic prosperity in the
Pacific region and throughout the world.
In an acknowledgment of these growing ties, Prime Minister Howard, on a number of
occasions has stated that “Australia has no greater friend in Asia than Japan.”
In March this year, at the Foreign Ministerial talks, Foreign Minister Downer and Foreign
Minister Aso, jointly declared that “Australia and Japan had developed a comprehensive
strategic relationship of great significance for both countries.’
• Iraq
Cooperation in Iraq between Japan and Australia was a ‘complete success’. The Australian
Government dispatched 450 troops to Al Muthanna province in Iraq to provide security for the
Japanese Self Defence Force engineers who were providing humanitarian and reconstruction
assistance in the province. Japan highly appreciated the Australian deployment.
• North Korea
Recently, our two countries cooperated effectively on measures in response to North Korean
issues. The Government of Japan highly values and appreciates that the Australian
government announced financial measures to restrict financial transaction related to North
Korean weapons of mass destruction in accordance with UNSC1695 on the same day as
Japan announced such measures.
Such concerted actions by Australia, Japan and the US, which had already taken similar
measures, demonstrated our strong determination to North Korea.
• Upgrading of tri-lateral security dialogue
We have witnessed significant progress in a trilateral cooperation among Australia, Japan and
the United States. In March in Sydney, U.S. Secretary of State Rice joined Foreign Minister
Downer and Foreign Minister Aso for the inaugural Ministerial meeting of the Trilateral
Strategic Dialogue. This meeting added a new dimension to the Japan-Australia bilateral
relationship.
• New Administration – committed to advancing relations further
Just over a week ago, Mr Shinzo Abe, former Chief Cabinet Secretary, became Japan’s new
Prime Minister. Mr Shinzo Abe attaches great importance to Australia-Japan bilateral
relations. His grandfather, Nobusuke Kishi, former Prime Minister from 1957 to 1960, signed
the 1957 Agreement on Commerce between Australia and Japan.
Speaking at his very first general-policy speech delivered at the opening of a Diet session on
29 th September, Mr Abe emphasized building stronger ties with Australia, along with India and
the United States, which all share important values in this region. I strongly believe that under
his leadership, the Australia-Japan comprehensive strategic partnership will be further
materialised in a wide range of areas.
• Strengthening Defence Cooperation
One of those areas could be the security front. When Mr Downer visited Japan in August,
some sort of agreement for defence cooperation between Australia and Japan was proposed.
We are more than happy to explore the possibility of the framework to further strengthen
defence cooperation in due course.
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