Your Excellencies Heads of State and Government,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

I come to Johannesburg to join other distinguished world leaders in addressing the challenge of defining what must be done in order to ensure sustainable development for all. Our world is filled with harsh realities. Conflicts continue incessantly on the Earth. Still, we must determine the key factors in ensuring sustainable development once peace is achieved. I believe that the answer is "People."

Japan, a country poor in natural resources, has grown to be what it is today on the strength of its human resources. It has attached paramount importance to education as the basis of development.

My government, together with Japanese non-governmental organizations, has proposed that the United Nations declare a "Decade of Education for Sustainable Development". We shall provide no less than 250 billion yen in education assistance over a five-year period.

Health is just as essential as education for people to realize their potential. Dr. Hideyo Noguchi, the Japanese bacteriologist, moved to Ghana in 1927 and devoted himself to research on yellow fever, in the end succumbing to that very disease. We wish to realize the ideals and dreams of Dr. Noguchi through Japan's assistance in the medical and health sectors.

Mr. Chairman,
Respecting the ownership of, and extending support to, developing countries as equal partners is the assistance philosophy of Japan. This in fact is the spirit of the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), which has been passed on to the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD).

The key to self-reliance is earning for oneself. Promotion of trade is crucial for developing countries. Japan shall step up its assistance for trade-related capacity building. At the same time, we will examine the expansion of coverage under duty-free and quota-free treatment for LDCs' products by revising tariff-related laws for the next fiscal year. Investment is another major driving force for economic development. We are taking the lead in WTO investment-rule making and supporting international investment promotion centers.

To help heavily-indebted poor countries implement sound policies, Japan has contributed more than a quarter of the G-8's contribution under the Enhanced HIPC Initiative.

Japan wants to share with Africa and the rest of the world the experiences of Asia. As an excellent example of the combined efforts of Africans and Asians, Japan intends to promote greater use among African farmers of NERICA (New Rice for Africa), a hybrid combining the benefits of African and Asian rice.

Japan has decided to extend emergency food aid amounting to 30 million US dollars to save children in southern Africa from famine.

Mr. Chairman,
I eagerly await the entry into force of the Kyoto Protocol, an agreement produced in Kyoto where its traditional beauty has been handed down through generations. Let us see to it that our children and their children are able to inherit a beautiful Earth, preserved by a common rule for all.
In the process of achieving economic growth, Japan experienced a period of serious pollution which caused ill health, and even the loss of lives. These problems of the past are shown on video at the "Japan Pavilion" in Ubuntu village. The greatest contribution we can make to the realization of sustainable development is to. share the lessons we have learned so that our friends will not repeat the grim experience. Japan shall provide cooperation in the area of environment-related capacity building by training 5,000 people from overseas over a five-year period. We will host the Third World Water Forum and its International Ministerial Conference in March 2003. When we host Expo 2005 in Aichi Prefecture, we intend to show the world how mankind can live in harmony with nature.

Mr. Chairman,
I have deep faith in the wisdom of humanity. I believe that by reforming our society, we will open the way to a brighter future. The Cape of Good Hope in South Africa is a key crossroads at which the Atlantic and the Indian Oceans converge. I call upon all nations, international organizations, NGOs, and other stockholders to work together so that the annals of history will note South Africa as the true "Cape of Hope" which showed humanity the way towards sustainable development.
 

Thank you.