IN JAPAN, SECRETARY-GENERAL MEETS PRIME MINISTER AND FOREIGN MINISTER

Press Release
SG/T/2042

IN JAPAN, SECRETARY-GENERAL MEETS PRIME MINISTER AND FOREIGN MINISTER

TOKYO, 3 April -- Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali met Japanese Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto Wednesday, for a wide-ranging discussion of the international situation, including the pitfalls that can stall the development process.

Over a working dinner, the Prime Minister reaffirmed Japan's strong support for the United Nations and its activities. The conversation touched on the failure of some Member States to pay their assessed contributions and the far-reaching consequences of that failure.

Prime Minister Hashimoto, recalling Japan's own development experience in the decades after the Second World War, said Japan wanted to assist developing countries to avoid the pitfalls his country had periodically encountered.

The Secretary-General and the Prime Minister exchanged ideas on how the international community could respond more effectively to the needs of the African continent.

Earlier, the Secretary-General, on the third leg of a three-nation Asian mission, conferred with Foreign Minister Yukihiko Ikeda for a detailed review of issues confronting the United Nations. Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali expressed appreciation for Japan's multifaceted support of the work of the United Nations -- in peace-keeping, democratization, disarmament and humanitarian assistance.

The two discussed the Organization's financial situation, the process of Security Council reform, Japan's participation in peace-keeping activities, developments in the former Yugoslavia and the status of the oil-for-food talks between the United Nations and Iraq.

Foreign Minister Ikeda told the Secretary-General that Japan strongly supported the United Nations System-wide Special Initiative on Africa and the two discussed how the multiplicity of conflicts on that continent diverted to relief and reconstruction resources which ought to fuel development.

They agreed on the urgent need to conclude negotiations on a comprehensive test-ban treaty.

- 2 - Press Release SG/T/2042 3 April 1996

The United Nations chief's busy schedule began with separate meetings with former foreign ministers Koji Kakizawa and Yohei Kono. The exchange with Mr. Kakizawa focused on the United Nations dire financial straits and the failure of too many Member States to pay their dues. Kono expressed his support for the Secretary-General's efforts to focus international attention on the crises besetting Africa.

Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali also conferred with Tsuneo Watanbe, President and Editor-in-Chief of the Yomiuri Shimbun, about activities linked to the commemoration this year of the fortieth anniversary of Japan's admission to the United Nations.

Paying his respects to a boyhood hero, the Secretary-General visited the Togo Shrine, dedicated to Admiral Heihachiro Togo.

The Secretary-General ventured twice into the world of academia. Once at a ceremony inaugurating the new Institute of Advanced Studies at United Nations University and again, addressing students at Aoyama Gakuin University on "The United Nations in its Second Half-Century".

Foreign Minister Ikeda and the Minister of Education, Science, Sports and Culture, Mikio Okuda, both delivered congratulatory messages at the ceremony at the United Nations University, which was hosted by Rector Heitor Gurgulino de Souza.

In his address, Secretary-General Boutros-Ghali thanked the Japanese authorities for the generous funding of the University, including the donation of the land and construction of its buildings. "Japan's support for the United Nations is essential", he said. "Without your commitment, the United Nations cannot be fully effective. Without your participation, the United Nations cannot be truly universal."

At Aoyama Gakuin University, the Secretary-General had a free-wheeling exchange with students on peace-keeping, sustainable development, reform of the Security Council and career prospects in the United Nations system.

Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali arrived in Japan from the Republic of Korea in the afternoon of 2 April.

The Secretary-General and his party were greeted at Tokyo International Airport (Narita) by Hisashi Owada, Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations in New York; Mr. Gurgulino de Souza, Under-Secretary-General and Rector of the United Nations University headquartered in Tokyo; Shinsuke Sugiyama, Director of the United Nations Policy Division in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan; the Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Tokyo; and other officials.

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