PRIME MINISTER’S DIARY

Caption: G8 leaders assemble before the 2010 Summit in Muskoka. Prime Minister Naoto Kan is seated at right.
Credit: CABINET PUBLIC RELATIONS OFFICE

Prime Minister Kan Visits Canada

Naoto Kan made his debut in diplomacy as Prime Minister in June, visiting Canada to attend the G8 Summit in Muskoka (25–26) and the G20 Summit in Toronto (26–27). At a press conference following his attendance at these Summits, he said, “While these G8 and G20 Summits were my first meetings to attend….I felt that my activities while Minister of Finance served amply as preparation and I was able to enter into the discussions fairly smoothly.”

Topics for discussion at the G8 Summit ranged over the world economy, development, and inter-national peace and security. The G8 showed leadership in mobilizing international effort on development by launching the Muskoka Initiative on Maternal, Newborn and Child Health with an additional 5 billion US dollars commitment over five years, in which Japan will provide, as Prime Minister Kan announced, up to an additional 50 billion Japanese yen or approximately 500 million US dollars. Leading the discussions on North Korea, the prime minister raised the issue of the sinking of the South Korean naval vessel the Cheonan and emphasized the importance of condemning North Korea for the attack and expressing support for South Korea. These points were supported by other leaders and were reflected in the Declaration. In closing, leaders unanimously agreed on the G8 Muskoka Declaration and G8 Leaders Statement on Countering Terrorism.


In Toronto, G20 leaders discussed such issues as the world economy, financial sector reform and the international financial institutions. As the prime minister summarized at the press conference, the major theme of the discussion on the world economy was how to strike a balance between economic growth and fiscal consolidation. In this con-text, the prime minister explained, emphasizing the importance of seeking both growth and fiscal consolidation, Japan's newly established New Growth Strategy and Financial Management Strategy were “welcome(d)” in the G20 Toronto Summit Declaration. Kan also laid out a way to in-crease growth by expanding markets and employment in sectors such as nursing and child care and medical services.