Azerbaijan, Baku, 7 July /corr. G.Ahmadova Trend / "We had a very substantive meeting with President Bush for about an hour", said the Prime Minister of Japan Fukuda at the press conference within the Hokkaido Toyako G8 summit in Japan. According him, in the meeting, they first shared the view that peace and stability in this region in the past decades have been maintained, thanks to the Japan-U.S. alliance.
Fukuda said that in the security area, cooperation between Japan and the United States grew more concrete, substantive and broader in nature, as exemplified by the cooperation in the fight against terrorism and assistance for Iraqi reconstruction following 9/11, the agreement on and steady implementation of a road map for U.S. forces realignment, and the joint development of ballistic missile and successful intercept tests.
Regarding North Korean issues, Fukuda stated that that the verification of their declaration is extremely important to realize complete nuclear abandonment by North Korea; that simultaneous settlement of denuclearization and the abduction issue will be important; and that to that end, Japan wishes to continue to cooperate closely with the United States. Also they agreed to further strengthen this alliance.
US President Bush stated at joint press availability that North Korea did provide a declaration of its plutonium-related activities and did blow up the cooling tower of its reactor at Yongbyon. "That's been verified, and that also is a positive step. But there are more steps to be taken. We are concerned about enriched uranium, and proliferation, and human rights abuses, ballistic missile programs. I view this process as a multi-step process where there will be action for action", said Bush.
According US president, Japan's contributions in Iraq and Afghanistan was the subject of talking's between two leaders. President Bush also said about the importance of Iran to listen to the demands, the just demands of the world to verifiably suspend its enrichment programs.
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