Embassy of Japan in the UK

Prime Minister Brown offered his congratulations to Prime Minister Fukuda on his assumption of office and expressed his wish to work closely with him.
Prime Minister Fukuda thanked Mr Brown for his warm words, including the congratulatory message he had received when he took office, and informed him that he had submitted a new bill to the Diet to allow the Maritime Self Defence Force to continue refuelling activities in the Indian Ocean as part of global efforts against terrorism. Furthermore, Prime Minister Fukuda stated that, with next year marking the 150th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Japan and the United Kingdom, he and Prime Minister Brown should step up their cooperation further.
In reply, Prime Minister Brown affirmed the great value he placed on Japan∏s international role, expressing his wish that this would continue. The United Kingdom, he indicated, would continue to cooperate closely with Japan. Moreover, he expressed his pleasure that Japan, as host of the G8 Summit next year, would initiate discussions within the G8 on a range of key issues.
For his part, Prime Minister Fukuda declared that Japan, as the chair of next year∏s G8 Summit, would cooperate with the UK on the major issues of global importance, including climate change, Africa and development issues.
Prime Minister Brown concurred with Prime Minister Fukuda∏s views and proposed that, because of the importance of achieving the Millennium Development Goals, he had proposed that a conference of interested parties be hosted next year by the United Nations.
Prime Minister Fukuda expressed support for this British initiative and suggested that the two countries coordinate their efforts on this matter.
Then Prime Minister Fukuda declared that, as regards the situation in Myanmar, which the UK also took very seriously, Japan was extremely concerned about what was happening there and had urged the Myanmar regime to release political prisoners and engage in talks with the democracy movement. He also stated that the international community needed to support the action of the United Nations Secretary General in sending Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari to Myanmar.
Prime Minister Brown replied that the action taken by Japan in concert with the international community sent a strong message to the Myanmar regime and that the next step was to demand that the regime choose whether it would change or come under even greater pressure. He added that, if the regime was able to change, it was important for the international community to respond in a helpful way.
The two leaders ended their discussion by expressing their intention to speak again at the earliest possible opportunity.