PM Transcripts

I am pleased to announce that the Japanese Prime Minister, His Excellency Mr Junichiro Koizumi, will visit Australia from 30 April to 2 May 2002.
Australia and Japan have a close and long-standing relationship. As market oriented democracies, we have strong and common strategic interests in our region and beyond. Australia and Japan have worked closely together on a range of political, economic and security issues, most recently including peacekeeping operations in East Timor.
We share substantial economic interests. Japan is our largest export market with merchandise exports worth over $23 billion in 2001, and our third largest source of investment..
I look forward to continuing the discussions I had with Mr Koizumi during my visits to Japan in August and Shanghai in October last year. We will discuss a range of bilateral issues, including ways to build on our already excellent relationship. We will also talk about the main issues on the international agenda, including the response to terrorism, developments in our region and other global issues such as the economic outlook and the response to climate change.