[Title] Welcome speech by Minister for Foreign Affairs Yoko Kamikawa (2024 3rd ABAC Conference Reception)

Good evening. Distinguished guests.

I am Kamikawa Yoko, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan.

I would like to congratulate you all on holding a successful ABAC meeting in Tokyo. Let me extend a heartfelt welcome to the ABAC members on your visit to Japan.

I would also like to express my respect for all the members who are actively engaged in the work of ABAC throughout the year. My particular gratitude goes to ABAC Japan for their efforts in hosting the ABAC meeting in Tokyo.

Since its establishment in 1995, ABAC has made a variety of useful policy recommendations from a business perspective on common challenges that the Asia-Pacific region has faced. Accordingly, ABAC has greatly enhanced its raison d'être.

Such an advanced public-private partnership between APEC and ABAC that we have enjoyed is something that no other forum can imitate. ABAC is indeed a source of great strength for APEC.

Since I assumed office, I have been working hard with the aim of "Exploring New Frontiers of Economic Diplomacy," with the idea of contributing to increasing Japan's national strength, especially its economic strength, through diplomacy.

The key to increasing our economic strength is to build strong public-private partnerships responding to the challenges of a new era.

Last week, I participated in the ASEAN-Japan Foreign Ministers' Meeting held in Laos and had a frank exchange of views with my counterparts from ASEAN countries, the core members of APEC. They expressed high expectations of Japan based on their trust which has been nurtured over many years of cooperation.

In order to meet their high expectations, it is important to construct a multilayered network involving diverse stakeholders, including the business community.

Through such a network, Japan will further advance cooperation towards solving social issues in a sustainable manner while seeing the APEC region from a holistic perspective. Strengthening our partnership with ABAC is an important part of this effort.

Furthermore, Japan has been working to improve the business environment from a corporate viewpoint such as by adjusting opaque domestic procedures, so that Japanese companies can operate overseas in a resilient and sustainable manner.

For that reason, we have created a new system of "officials in charge of cross-border economic affairs" in Japan's diplomatic missions overseas. Last month, we appointed officials with a broad remit in the ASEAN region. This measure is helping us provide even stronger support for Japanese companies operating in cross-border markets.

In addition, amid the severe international situation in which we find ourselves, it is indispensable to ensure a free and fair business foundation. At APEC, various steps and efforts have been made toward ensuring a free and fair international economic order. I believe that such efforts will continue to contribute not only to the development of the Asia-Pacific region as a whole, the growth engine of the world, but also to the prosperity of Japan. In this regard, we welcome ABAC's recommendations including those on the WTO and FTAAP.

We consider APEC members to be partners in "co-creating the economies and societies of the future." With a view to bringing about further cooperation at APEC, we would like to closely work with Peru, the APEC host this year, and ABAC members so that we can pool our accumulated wisdom.

In particular, we highly value the opportunity to hear directly from the business community, based on discussions by ABAC members, including through the "Report to APEC Economic Leaders." In this regard, I'm looking forward to a fruitful exchange of views in the dialogue between ABAC and APEC Leaders in November this year.

Thank you very much for your kind attention.