Seeking Leadership for Post-war Reconstruction

To exercise the leadership as the chair country of Group of Seven and to implement the agreements on supporting Ukraine, Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoshimasa Hayashi on Saturday made a visit to Kyiv, Ukraine. In the meeting President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Hayashi pledged to support the recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine with utmost efforts by the government and private sector. The challenge for Japan is that its effort has to be limited until the war ends.

With the constitutional restriction, Japan cannot be involved in military support for Ukraine. So, it focuses on leading post-war reconstruction as hosting Japan-Ukraine Conference for Promotion of Economic Reconstruction in Tokyo early next year. To Hayashi’s offer on Japan’s support for recovery and reconstruction, Zelenskyy welcomed any kinds of support for economic reconstruction, recovery of employment and return of refugees. Both governments agreed on starting negotiation for the bilateral document on supporting Ukraine’s reconstruction.

 

The leaders of Group of Seven issued Joint Declaration of Support for Ukraine in July, which launched negotiations with Ukraine to formalize their enduring support for Ukraine through bilateral security commitments and arrangements. Following United States, Canada and United Kingdom, Hayashi started Japan’s negotiation by visiting Kyiv with the economic leaders of Japan. G7’s agreed support includes not only military equipment such as long-range missiles, fighter jets or ammunitions, but the supports for economy or governance.

 

In Joint Statement on Special Global Partnership between Japan and Ukraine at Kishida’s visit to Kyiv in March, Japan reaffirmed its commitment to the post-war recovery and reconstruction, sharing the view that the private sector should play an important role. Under the leadership of Japan, G7 leaders delivered a statement on Ukraine at Hiroshima Summit in May, which declared to continue their joint effort to support Ukraine’s repair of its critical infrastructure, recovery and reconstruction. It can be said that Japan is already responsible for the recovery and reconstruction of Ukraine.

 

The private sector leaders who visited Kyiv with Hayashi researched the demands for post-war Ukraine. CEO of Rakuten, Hiroshi Mikitani, who is seeking to build up the infrastructure for high-speed communication in Ukraine, explained the efforts of each firm to Zelenskyy. Those include building the system for remote medical care. Japan hopes to develop those supports by the reconstruction conference next year.

 

However, there is no concrete time schedule for the economic support by the private sector. Since Ministry of Foreign Affairs raised the danger level of Ukraine to the highest three, recommending any Japanese citizen to evacuate, Japanese businessman cannot easily visit Ukraine to exercise economic support project. There is no sign of ending the war so far. The international effort for stopping Russia has shown only little progress. It is ironic that the diplomatic channel with Russia is shut down when Japan needs it for showing its international leadership.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Amendment of Local Autonomy Law

The House of Representatives started discussion on revision of the Local Autonomy Law, which would vest the national government a power to instruct local government in an emergency. It may change the relationship between the national and local government, which has been recognized as equal. The opposition parties oppose the amendment, arguing that it would give the national government an excessive power.   With the Meiji Restoration, the national government abolished the feudal system, introducing modern governance. However, its autonomy was not sufficient. The governor of each prefecture was appointed by the national government. The local governments subordinated to the national government. It was as late as 2000 when  the Comprehensive Decentralization Law  was enacted and the relationship between the national and local government was defined as equal.   The national government found inconvenience in the relationship between the national and local government, when ...
Read more

Request for Final Nuclear Disposal Site

Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry requested Genkai Town, Saga, to accept “literature survey” for building a final disposal site for high-level radioactive waste. Genkai is going to answer within this month. If it accepts, it will be the third place to accept that survey, following two places in Hokkaido. Main reason to accept the survey is supposed to be subsidy from the national government.   Japan has no final disposal site. Among all 54 reactors in 17 nuclear power generation plant, 12 reactors of 6 plants are operating. The rest of them are not in operation, some of which are determined to be decommissioned. Used nuclear fuels are stocked in each plant, 　 or have sent to a reprocessing plant in Rokkasho, Aomori. There are two plans to stock nuclear wastes in the intermediate facility for disposal, one is already built and another is still in negotiation.   Nuclear Fuel Final Disposal Act in 2000 determines to bury nuclear waste in the underground. Literature survey, ...
Read more

Not A Royal Wedding

The bride called her husband an indispensable existence and their marriage was necessary choice to protect their mind. The groom insisted on his life as only once and his right to be with his loved one. Her father wanted his daughter’s marriage to be celebrated by the people. The people were not sure whether the family was happy as a whole. Is this the traditional Japanese social system that makes no one happy? Mako Komuro, as known as Princess Mako during her life in one of the royal family Akishino, held on Tuesday a press conference with her husband Kei Komuro, right after submitting marriage report to local government. It was something different from ordinary Q&A session, because Mako was afraid of her mental uneasiness brought by some questions not based on truth. So, the event was actually one-sided speech to the reporters. Mako emphasized that the Kei’s decision of studying abroad five years ago had not been his original idea, but a result of her request to establish an over...
Read more