TAOISEACH BRIAN Cowen and Japanese prime minister Taro Aso discussed the global recession, the crisis in the Middle East and the incoming Obama administration during their first bilateral meeting in Tokyo last night.
Mr Cowen afterwards described the meeting as very successful and disclosed that he had invited Mr Aso to visit Ireland.
The summit was held at the residence of the prime minister and lasted longer than the 30 minutes scheduled. Mr Cowen then attended a working dinner hosted by Mr Aso.
Both leaders discussed specific areas of bilateral relations, he later told reporters, and there had been a broad political discussion about the economic situation and about major foreign policy issues.
“The Middle East obviously came up for discussion, and also the whole question of Japan’s positions on non-proliferation and disarmament, which are similar to ours.
“The North Korea problem is one that is particularly acute for them and the lack of progress in the six-party talks [on North Korea’s nuclear weapons’ programme] is one of concern,” he said.
“We also discussed the incoming Obama administration and the impact that it may have as well as broad economic issues and how Japan is coping with this recession the same as ourselves.”
Mr Cowen said that Mr Aso had outlined to him the details and rationale behind his Government’s 3 trillion yen (€25 billion) package to increase domestic demand.
“For us as a small economy we don’t have the large domestic consumer market to be used as stimulus in our case.
‘‘ We are very much looking towards outside demand. I did mention that we do have a very large capital investment programme to offset decreased economic activity in other areas,” he said. Mr Cowen added that Japan has had a long history in the last decade of continuing stagnation as a result of the banking crisis. As a result, he said, it was in a position to share its experience in that regard.
He also agreed that the situation facing both countries was similar: “I think that tax revenues in Japan and Ireland have decreased by about 12-14 per cent last year.
“That’s the level they see in their tax budgets. That’s an indication of how uniform the difficulties are right across the board, no matter what the economy is.
“Japan, the second-largest economy in the world is facing its troubles. We hear on television and radio today that the recession is deepening in the US. Clearly we have a very serious problem that we have to contend with,” said Mr Cowen.
The meeting was the principal engagement of Mr Cowen’s five-day official visit to Japan, a visit that commemorated the 50th anniversary of the commencement of diplomatic relations between both countries. Mr Cowen will complete the last official engagements of his visit today. He will make a courtesy call on Emperor Akihito at the Imperial Palace this morning.
Later on, he will visit Mitsubishi Heavy Industries to see how it is increasingly using clean technology in its production.
Earlier yesterday, he addressed a seminar organised by the Irish Funds Industry Association. Japanese assets managed in Ireland are now ranked as the sixth-largest in value of any country, having previously being eighth.
The overall value of assets managed by Irish managers now exceeds $2.6 trillion.
Mr Cowen told the seminar that Japanese companies had been quick in recognising the attractiveness of Ireland. He said a sophisticated operational support structure was available in Ireland at competitive commercial rates.
Mr Cowen will leave Japan tomorrow afternoon local time, arriving in Dublin in the evening.
