Tokyo, 19/07/2000 (Agence Europe) - Following their Summit in Tokyo, the EU and Japan issued a declaration, below is an extract: "Japan and the EU welcome the holding of the Camp David summit meeting. They urge both Israel and the Palestinians to seize this opportunity (…) to pave the way for concluding the final status negotiations by September 13, 2000. Japan and the EU reaffirm their continued support for the Palestinians' right to self-determination including the right to establish an independent State, and strongly hope that a viable, independent and democratic Palestinian State will be effectively establish in a peaceful manner (…) Japan and the EU declare readiness to consider the recognition of a Palestinian State in due course. Japan and the EU will extend their continued assistance conductive to the human resource development and nation building of the Palestinian people. The two sides welcome the withdrawal of the Israeli forces from Lebanon (…) and call upon all the parties to fulfil their responsibilities to maintain peace and stability in the region. Japan and the EU invite the international community to extend its support for the stabilisation of Southern Lebanon.
The complete text of this statement will soon be published, with the other conclusions of the EU/Japan summit, in our EUROPE Documents series. On the other conclusions of the summit, see other article on page 5.