Japan, Denmark agree to cooperate toward COP16, other global issues

TOKYO, March 8 Kyodo -
Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama and his Danish counterpart Lars
Rasmussen agreed Monday to cooperate toward making the next U.N. climate change
conference a success and also to work closely on other global issues such as
the reconstruction of Afghanistan, they said.
''We agreed to cooperate in making COP16 a success,'' Hatoyama said at a joint
press conference following their meeting held at the premier's office in Tokyo,
referring to the 16th Conference of Parties to the U.N. Framework Convention on
Climate Change set to be held in Mexico in November.
Danish Prime Minister Rasmussen, who chaired the COP15 talks held in Copenhagen
in December, told the same press conference that the two leaders also agreed to
ask experts to ''explore possibilities'' for expanding the two countries'
cooperation to include ''green, clean technologies and robotics.''
According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, Rasmussen proposed the idea to the
Japanese leader.
Hatoyama said he also explained to Rasmussen the current state of the Japanese
economy and his government's planned growth strategies focusing on ''green
innovation.''
Rasmussen displayed his gratitude to Hatoyama for his ''very strong personal
support'' for COP15, while Hatoyama highly commended Rasmussen for his
contributions that led to the creation of the Copenhagen Accord.
The Danish leader also said that Hatoyama's ''ambitious'' goal of cutting
greenhouse gas emissions by 25 percent from 1990 levels by 2020 and his
''proactive efforts to transform Japanese economy into a green economy''
deserve acclaim.
Among other issues, Hatoyama said they shared a view that international efforts
to help reconstruct conflict-stricken Afghanistan should focus more on capacity
building and other humanitarian assistance instead of military-based assistance
and agreed that Japan and Denmark can strengthen their partnership in this area
of civilian assistance.
Rasmussen, who is on his first trip to Japan, praised Japan's fresh assistance
to Afghanistan announced last year, which replaced its antiterrorism refueling
operations, calling it ''very helpful and forward-looking.''
Hatoyama also said that the leaders discussed the possibility of further
cooperation in the fight against piracy in waters off the coast of Somalia,
although he did not explain the details.
Hatoyama and Rasmussen also agreed that the two should help develop full-scale
talks between Japan and the European Union toward forging a free trade
agreement or economic partnership agreement, so that Japan and Denmark can step
up their cooperation in the areas of economy as well as science and technology,
Hatoyama said.
Rasmussen said during their talks that his country emphasizes free trade and
supports the move toward the conclusion of a Japan-EU free trade agreement,
according to the Japanese ministry.
The two leaders first met when Hatoyama visited Copenhagen last October to
deliver a speech for Tokyo's bid to host the 2016 Summer Olympic Games during
an International Olympic Committee general assembly meeting.
==Kyodo