Brussels, 09/05/2005 (Agence Europe) - The meeting in Tokyo last Friday between the EU Troika, headed by Luxembourg Foreign Minister and President-in-Office of the EU Council, Jean Asselborn, and External Relations Commissioner Benita Ferrero-Waldner, and Japan, represented by the Nippon foreign minister, Machimura Nobutaka, essentially covered: (1) the results of the 14th EU_Japan summit of 2 May this year (EUROPE 8940). Europeans and Japanese above all welcomed the implementation of the joint action plan adopted in 2001 and the success of “Initiative 2005 - a year of exchange between the European and Japanese peoples”. Recalling that Japan has been chosen as a strategic partner in the context of European security strategy, Mr Asselborn stressed that the EU hoped to step up cooperation and dialogue with Japan in coming months; (2) United Nations reform. The EU mainly expressed its support for the UN reform process - which may begin after the September summit - in order to strengthen the international community's ability to face up to new threats and the large range of current challenges. To this backdrop, Europe joins those who ”call for application and greater respect of international treaties, conventions and protocols on terrorism, the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and organised crime at transnational level”, Mr Asselborn said; (3) sustainable development. The Council president mainly specified that the EU hopes to assume its full responsibility in this respect and has undertaken to implement the UN Millennium Declaration and the Millennium Development Goals; (4) situation in Iraq and Middle East. Mr Asselborn confirmed that the EU and the US are jointly organising an international conference on Iraq on the key themes of the country's political and economic reconstruction, rule of law and public order. The conference should be held at the end of June in Brussels, in close cooperation with the United Nations and Iraq. Japan will “naturally play a major role” and will be actively involved in the work of preparation, the Luxembourg minister assured.