Japan FM to Meet Asian Leaders About Crisis
May 3, 1998 - 0:0
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) Japanese Foreign Minister Keizo Obuchi was headed to Thailand on Friday, the first stop on a tour that will also take him to Malaysia and Singapore for talks with regional leaders on ways to ease Asia's economic crisis. Obuchi will make a ``major policy speech'' in Singapore about Japan's role in shoring up Asian economies, Ken Shimanouchi, the foreign ministry's deputy press secretary, told reporters in Bangkok. The Southeast Asian leaders will be asked for their views on what steps they want the Group of Seven top industrial powers, plus Russia, to adopt at the May 15-17 summit in Birmingham, England. Obuchi will also discuss measures Japan has taken to boost its own economy, including last week's 16.7 trillion yen ($126 billion) stimulus package, and progress in implementing Japanese aid to the region.
Shimanouchi said Japan was extending $12.6 billion in aid - more than any other industrialized nation - to Thailand alone, despite criticism in the United States that Japan was not fulfilling its role as Asia's leading economic power. The stimulus package announced April 24 includes $5 billion in new aid for the region atop the $37 billion that had already been earmarked, Shimanouchi said.
``I think we've done a lot $37 billion is a considerable amount of money,'' Shimanouchi said. ``That's more than the rest of the industrialized countries put together.'' In Thailand, Obuchi will meet Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan to voice Japanese support for macroeconomic reforms demanded in the $17.2 billion bailout of Thailand led by the International Monetary Fund. ``It is the position of the Japanese government to help Asian governments carry out these self-help efforts,'' Shimanouchi said.
``It's important that initiatives come from the Asian countries.'' Obuchi's delegation will include officials from the ministries of agriculture, trade and industry, and finance. Japanese businesses generally remain confident that Thailand's battered economy will recover in a few years and have not pulled out of the country, Shimanouchi said. (AP)
Shimanouchi said Japan was extending $12.6 billion in aid - more than any other industrialized nation - to Thailand alone, despite criticism in the United States that Japan was not fulfilling its role as Asia's leading economic power. The stimulus package announced April 24 includes $5 billion in new aid for the region atop the $37 billion that had already been earmarked, Shimanouchi said.
``I think we've done a lot $37 billion is a considerable amount of money,'' Shimanouchi said. ``That's more than the rest of the industrialized countries put together.'' In Thailand, Obuchi will meet Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan to voice Japanese support for macroeconomic reforms demanded in the $17.2 billion bailout of Thailand led by the International Monetary Fund. ``It is the position of the Japanese government to help Asian governments carry out these self-help efforts,'' Shimanouchi said.
``It's important that initiatives come from the Asian countries.'' Obuchi's delegation will include officials from the ministries of agriculture, trade and industry, and finance. Japanese businesses generally remain confident that Thailand's battered economy will recover in a few years and have not pulled out of the country, Shimanouchi said. (AP)