The 8Th ARF ISM on CTTC

The 8th ARF ISM on CTTC

April 28-30, 2010, Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam

DRAFT

Thank you very much Mr. Chair and Mr. Co-Chair.

Representing the Government of Japan (GOJ), first of all, I would like to extend our sincere appreciation to the Government of Brunei Darussalam for hosting this 8th ARF CTTC Meeting, and also to the Government of Russian Federation for co-hosting this meeting.

As already mentioned by our colleagues here, the GOJ also would like to commend the counter terrorism efforts taken by each of your governments, and thanks to all of your strenuous efforts, there have been significant progress. Particularly, we highly commend the captures of major JI figures such as Noordin Top and Dulmatin by the Indonesia Government.

However, challenges still remain. Although there are many issues we have to work on for countering terrorism, taking the recent trend into account, I would like to point out two areas of our focus.

We have a particular concern on self-radicalization, where ordinary people became radicalized through such as internet or radical publications. Thus, the GOJ is now focusing on the counter-radicalization as our mid and long term CT strategy.

Also, the last December’s attempted bombing against the US airliner reminded us of the importance of upgrading our aviation security capability. To that end, the GOJ hosted the Asia-Pacific Ministerial Meeting on Aviation Security this past March in Tokyo. And the follow-up meeting was held by the Government of Singapore this month.

Among our efforts for countering terrorism with ASEAN member states, the GOJ makes a particular importance on “ASEAN-Japan Counter Terrorism Dialogue.” The Dialogue not only provides opportunities to address and discuss this region’s terrorism situation and each ASEAN member’s need, but it is also equipped with resources (Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund) to implement the proposed projects under the Dialogue. For example, under this framework, we had a seminar on ACCT(ASEAN Convention on Mutual Assistance) in Thailand last month, and also a seminar on CBRN in Singapore last November.

Taking this opportunity, the GOJ would like to express our sincere appreciation to the Indonesian Government for its hosting the 5th Japan-ASEAN CT Dialogue this year. Thank you very much.

Also, we established the Grant Aid for Cooperation on Counter-Terrorism and Security Enhancement in 1996, and since then we have provided equipments mainly on maritime security to Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam.

We welcome that now the ARF CTTC is moving toward as a more action oriented forum. In order to enhance our own counter measures, and also assist countries to upgrade their counter-terrorism capability, the GOJ would like to utilize various international fora including ARF as well as our bilateral consultations with such as ROK, and also the trilateral one with the U.S. and Australia, where we would be able to identify the issues and needs for countering terrorism and upgrading their capability.

Thank you very much.

END