Fukuda, Rudd agree whaling will not undermine bilateral ties

Tokyo, June 13 Kyodo - Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda and his visiting Australian counterpart Kevin Rudd said Thursday they agreed to take a cool-headed approach toward the whaling issue so that it will not undermine bilateral relations.

The leaders agreed in their first summit to closely cooperate on the creation of a new international framework for climate change, to beef up security
cooperation and to promote negotiations on the conclusion of a free trade
agreement with a flexible and constructive approach.

Fukuda and Rudd agreed in a joint statement to ''strengthen further the
comprehensive strategic, security and economic partnership'' and expressed
their determination to ''explore new areas of cooperation,'' such as tackling
climate change.

Rudd told reporters at a joint press conference after the meeting at Fukuda's
office, ''On whaling, Prime Minister Fukuda and I agreed that you can have
disagreements between friends.''

''We've also agreed that this disagreement should not undermine in any way the
strength and positive nature of our overall bilateral relationship and we will
be working in the period ahead diplomatically in search of the solution on this
question,'' he said.

Australia is strongly opposed to Japan's so-called scientific research whaling
activities. The Rudd administration has also stated it reserves the right to
take legal action against such whaling and bring the case to international
court.

Fukuda said, ''On the economy, we confirmed that we will continue negotiations
to realize a free trade agreement that would benefit both of us. And we shared
strong concern about recent oil and food price hikes and agreed to cooperate on
the issue.''

Rudd was quoted by a Japanese Foreign Ministry official as saying that as a
farmer's son he understands Japan's sensitivities with regard to opening its
agricultural market but that concluding the accord will be important for both
sides.

On climate change, Rudd, who will visit Japan again next month to attend an
outreach session of the July 7 to 9 Group of Eight summit in Hokkaido, pledged
to work closely with Japan and ''highly appreciated'' the contribution of
Tokyo's initiative to help developing nations address the issue.

The two leaders agreed that Japan's proposal of a ''sectoral approach'' in the
calculation of national emissions cut targets is ''useful for encouraging
global sector specific actions,'' the statement said.

''They also saw the bottom-up sectoral approach, which can complement
economy-wide targets, as a useful tool for identifying technically possible
mitigation potentials,'' it said.

Japan also welcomed Australia's proposal to hold the next ''two-plus-two''
foreign and defense ministerial meeting in Canberra in early November, the
statement said.

At a working lunch after the talks, Fukuda and Rudd discussed the recently
improved relations between Japan and China, which the Australian premier
described as a welcome sign, the official said. The leaders also reaffirmed the
need to encourage China to play a constructive role.

The joint statement, the first of its kind to be issued by Japan and Australia
in six years, did not mention the whaling issue.
Rudd arrived Sunday for a five-day trip -- his first visit to Japan since
becoming premier last December.==Kyodo