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Report
No.220904 |
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- International - |
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When to Resume U.S. Beef Import Can Not Be Said: Food Safety Taken Seriously On March 19, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Foreign Affairs Minister Nobutaka Machimura met separately with U. S. State Secretary Condoleezza Rice who was visiting Japan for the first time after assuming the new position. Secretary Rice pressed the Japanese government to make a decision on early resumption of U. S. beef imports, halted since an outbreak of BSE in that country. In response, the Japanese side made it clear that they are not in a position to specify when to resume the importation at the present stage when the Food Safety Commission is continuing discussion on the subject. However, the two sides confirmed they will try to come to a solution of the problem by closely exchanging information. At the meeting, Foreign Affairs Minister Machimura opened up the talks by explaining a prospect that an expert committee's conclusion will be submitted on March 28, which is discussing the advisability of any change in the domestic measures of ensuring safety, and added by saying that "while I can not say when import will be resumed, we will do everything we can to arrive at a solution as soon as possible". Secretary Rice pointed at the discussions of the Food Safety Commission as the problem which she said is much prolonged in spite of an agreement for an early solution reached by the director-general level consultation of October, 2004. She pressed for early resumption of the import referring to increasing arguments for taking sanctions against Japan and said "It is inevitable for Japan to quicken the pace of (discussion) process. What is most important is to come up with a result ". At a separate meeting, Prime Minister Koizumi reiterated the stance of Japan saying "This is an issue for which necessary domestic steps must be taken in the light of food safety, and the steps should be advanced based on that criteria," and sought the U.S. understanding on the science based response of Japan. Secretary Rice replied by saying "I know of the procedures to be taken in Japan. What is important is that Japan shares [information] with the United States", and they confirmed the importance of closely exchanging information on the state of discussions and so forth by the Food Safety Commission. |
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