Japan welcomes passage of financial bailout bill in U.S. Senate

TOKYO, Oct. 2 Kyodo - The Japanese government welcomes the passage of a revamped $700 billion financial bailout bill through the U.S. Senate and hopes for swift enactment of the proposed legislation to stabilize the global economy, Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Jun Matsumoto said Thursday.

''The passage is...a progress toward solving the problem and we would like to
welcome it,'' Matsumoto told a press conference in the morning.
''We hope that the bill is swiftly enacted and expect it would lead to
stabilize the U.S. and the world's economy,'' he added.
Japan, for its part, would like to continue to closely cooperate with the
United States and other countries so the global financial and capital markets
become stable, he said.
The remarks were made after the U.S. Senate passed the revamped bill Wednesday
amid increasing fears that the already-sagging U.S. economy could collapse
without it.
The bill for the ailing financial sector was reworked after the U.S. House of
Representatives unexpectedly rejected it Monday, sparking panic selling in
stock markets in the United States and elsewhere.
==Kyodo