Japan’s Foreign Minister to Visit New York

Japan’s Foreign Minister Koichiro Gemba will visit New York to meet US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and attend a UN nuclear safety meeting. Gemba is scheduled to depart from Narita airport near Tokyo on Monday to make his first trip to the United States as foreign minister. During the 7-day visit to New York, Gemba is scheduled to hold talks with Clinton on Monday evening. He is expected to explain to her that the Cabinet of Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda will place priority on the Japan-US alliance as the major pillar of Japanese diplomacy, Japanese (NHK WORLD) reported Monday. Gemba is also expected to ensure that based on a bilateral agreement reached in May last year, his government will carry out a plan to move the functions of a US military air base within Okinawa Prefecture despite some public objections. Under the plan, the US Marine Corps’ Futenma Air Station will be transferred from a densely-populated area in Ginowan City to a coastal area in Nago City. On Tuesday, Gemba plans to attend a meeting of G-8 foreign ministers, and express Japan’s commitment to international assistance for nations struggling to achieve reforms in the Middle East and North Africa. On Thursday, Gemba is scheduled to co-chair a UN meeting on nuclear safety and security. He is expected to explain that his government will do its utmost to bring the nuclear crisis at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant under control, and to contribute to the improvement of reactor safety.