Prime Minister Ohira's Concluding Statement at the Joint News Conference

Analytical Studies
G7 Summits > 1979 Tokyo Summit

June 29, 1979

To this Summit there have gathered a great number of members of the press from Japan and from outside Japan, and for showing your interest in what goes on in the Summit, I would like to express our appreciation. Because of security considerations, we may have caused you many inconveniences, but I hope you understand this.

Our conference during the past two days has been extremely useful, but in order for the fruit of our discussions to be appreciated in various parts of the world, much depends on you, members of the press. I would be grateful for your cooperation.

I am going to shortly ask various Heads of State and Government to speak, but as the host, I would first like to give my overall evaluation.

In this Summit we have welcomed three new members of whom one is the first woman Prime Minister to the Summit, and the other is the youngest Prime Minister. The two new Prime Ministers have contributed much to the success of the conference with their charm and wisdom. The third new member is somewhat older, me, and I would refrain from making any comment.

Although nearly half of the members in this Summit are new, I believe our Summit has been able to create an extremely close human relation on the basis of the spirit of mutual support of the Summit, which I believe is an important product of our endeavor.

This Summit has been held ... at the time when the attention of the world is focused on the oil problem. In order to respond to the situation, it has been said that our Summit will be a failure unless bold and concrete measures are agreed upon.

Shortly the communiqué will be distributed to you, but from the viewpoint of both immediate measures and medium- and long-term points of view, I believe we have been able to reach concrete consensus that can respond to meet the expectations of the world.

As the Prime Minister of Japan, to give the specific goal of our effort to the year 1985 has taken considerable amount of courage, but recognizing the fact that we all live in a global community faced with the oil anxiety, and recognizing the need for placing our economy on a stable basis well into the future, I felt it was necessary for us to agree to that statement.

In areas other than oil, we have discussed questions such as inflation and employment – showing strong interest in protecting industrial democracies – from long-term and fundamental points of view. Although industrialized economies find ourselves in respective economic difficulties, the Summit leaders have shown strong interest in the relationship with the developing nations. I have found this very encouraging. The old economies of the world are in the same boat. By sharing the new sense of responsibility and new sense of partnership, I would like to see the constructive relationship and cooperation be developed further.

Further, in the present Summit, following up on what was taken up in the last Summit in Bonn, we adopted a statement on air hijacking which I will now read.

This is concerning the statement. At the request of the Heads of State and Government who participated in the Summit, I, in my capacity of chairman of the meeting, am pleased to make the following statement which concerns the Declaration on Air Hijacking issued in Bonn in July, 1978.

"The Heads of State and Government expressed their pleasure with the broad support expressed by other States for the Declaration on Hijacking made at the Bonn Summit in July 1978. They noted that procedures for the prompt implementation of the Declaration have been agreed upon and that to date enforcement measures under the Declaration have not been necessary.

"They also noted with satisfaction the widespread adherence to the conventions dealing with unlawful interference with international civil aviation. The extensive support for these conventions and the Bonn Declaration on Hijacking reflects the acceptance by the international community as a whole of the principles expressed therein."

This is the statement.

Also, in the present Summit, we have adopted a special statement on the question of refugees from Indochina, which is another major fruit. Japan itself feels we must make our utmost contribution to the solution of this problem, and I would like to see that the statement be transmitted to other various countries and various international organizations and invite their further participation in international efforts on this question. This has been an unprecedentedly important international event, but this Tokyo Summit has now come to its safe and successful conclusion, and next year we have unanimously agreed to meet again in Italy. We look forward to our reunion in Italy.

And I would like to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt appreciation to all the people, both within and without Japan, who have supported this meeting.

Because we have taken unexpected, unprecedentedly elaborate security measures in connection with the convening of this Summit – and I know we have dealt inconveniences with many people, but because of their cooperation we have been able to successfully carry this conference. I thank all of these people concerned.

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