Joint Press Release: The 7th Japan-South Africa Partnership Forum, Tokyo, Japan, 1 October 2004

The 7th Japan - South Africa Partnership Forum was held in Tokyo on 30th September and 1st October 2004.

The Japanese delegation was headed by H.E Syuzen Tanigawa, Senior Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan and the South African delegation was headed by H.E Aziz Pahad, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of South Africa. Amb. Masaharu Kohno, Director-General for Sub-Saharan African Affairs and Mr S Francis Moloi, Chief Director of Asian Branch co-chaired the Forum. The two delegations, consisting of relevant ministries, departments and agencies, had fruitful discussions on not only bilateral issues but also issues with regional as well as global implications.

The two sides agreed to consider strengthening the Partnership Forum thereby signalling the importance Japan and South Africa attach to their relationship.

The two delegations exchanged views of close co-operation between the two countries in a wide range of issues such as health, culture, environment, tourism, science and technology, and economic relations including trade and investment. In particular, Japan, the first Asian country that co-hosted the FIFA World Cup in 2002, agreed to share its experience with and provide various forms of assistance to South Africa, which will host the FIFA World Cup on the African continent in 2010.

Both sides reviewed recent developments in bilateral trade relations, noting the positive growth in value-added trade and new investments. Both sides also emphasized that regular updates and the implementation of follow-up actions were critical. In this regard, regular contact between trade officials from both sides was needed, and it was therefore proposed that a mechanism, such as a Joint Trade Committee (JTC) be established.

Regarding African issues, the two delegations exchanged views on the situation in Sudan and the Great Lakes region that covers the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Burundi and Rwanda with a view to the promotion and consolidation of peace. The two countries expressed their willingness to work together for supporting the strengthening of the police in the DRC. For this purpose, a seminar will be jointly organised in Pretoria (South Africa) in October, with the participation of police officers in the DRC. The two countries reviewed the development of their joint effort in which co-operation between them is ongoing and reaffirmed to seek concrete tripartite activities in the areas such as health and agriculture.

The two delegations also reaffirmed their commitment to co-operate with each other to promote African development by synchronising the TICAD (Tokyo International Conference on African Development) process led by Japan and NEPAD (New Partnership for Africa's Development) led by South Africa and other partners in the African continent. South Africa especially expressed its will to make an active contribution, including high-level participation, to successful convening of "the TICAD Asia-Africa Trade and Investment Conference (AATIC)" scheduled on 1st and 2nd November 2004 in Tokyo.

The two countries reached a consensus on expanding areas of co-operation on global issues. Japan which has been promoting Asia-Africa co-operation through the TICAD process agreed to collaborate with South Africa, which will co-chair the Asia-Africa Summit in April 2005, in conjunction with the 50th Anniversary of the Bandung Conference which was held for the first time in 1955. The two sides underscored the importance of reforming the United Nations, especially the Security Council, by expanding both permanent and non-permanent categories, including developing and developed countries as new members. South Africa expressed its determination to seek a permanent membership in the Security Council. Japan firmly believes that Africa must be represented in the permanent membership in the Security Council. Based on the existing amicable relationship between the two countries, they agreed to seek further co-operation in multilateral institutions such as the WTO.

The two delegations agreed to strengthen their co-operation through continuous communication, and use this forum as the axis of the bilateral relations. Both parties agreed that South Africa would host the next South Africa - Japan Partnership Forum

Department of Foreign Affairs
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0001

1 October 2004