Greece, Japan sign accord for closer ties

PMs discuss trade, culture, tourism

Prime Minister Costas Simitis and his Japanese counterpart,JunichiroKoizumi, raise achampagne toast after they signed an ‘Action plan’ to boost relations between their two countries in the political, economic, cultural and tourism sectors, at Koizumi’s official residence in Tokyo yesterday. Simitis, on a six-day official visit to Japan, met also with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo.

Prime Minister Costas Simitis and his Japanese counterpart, Junichiro Koizumi, yesterday signed a Japan-Greece Joint Action Plan which calls for periodic bilateral high-level meetings, the tightening of ties between the two countries, and the organizing of a «Japan month» in Greece and a «Greek month» in Japan. The two countries will also strengthen cultural and economic ties.

On the first visit to Japan by a Greek head of government, Simitis yesterday also met with Emperor Akihito. He is to visit Kyoto today.

Koizumi praised Greece's role in efforts to stabilize the Balkans. A Japanese official said that Japan would like to draw on Greece's experience in the region for its own investments in the Balkans.

«What we are interested in are improved economic ties and more Japanese investment in our country. What we can offer is the fact that Greece is a bridge to the Balkans and the Middle East. We have the experience, we have the knowledge and we believe that the Japanese side too would like to have partners who could help them in this effort,» Simitis told reporters.

Simitis and Koizumi denounced international terrorism and confirmed their shared understanding that Afghanistan needs international assistance and they agreed to explore ways that Japan and Greece can jointly help the Afghan people, a Japanese official who attended the meeting told the Agence France-Presse.

Regarding Greece's wish to promote tourism, the two prime ministers discussed the possibility of reviving a direct Athens-Tokyo air link. Greece also wants to improve the trade balance, which is now 11:1 in Japan's favor. In other words, imports from Japan come to $823 million and exports to Japan to just $72 million.

The Joint Action Plan opens the way for a body, or committee, that will involve the private sector, «with the aim of promoting bilateral commercial exchanges and investments, locating sectors for further cooperation and promoting necessary measures for lifting obstacles and disincentives.» The plan mentions also the strong naval ties between the two countries. At present, Greeks had orders for ships worth $979 million in Japanese shipyards in 2001, with the amount reaching $1.5 billion in 2002.

The two sides discussed the teaching of modern Greek in Japanese universities and the teaching of Japanese in Greek ones.