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From October 27 to 29, DPJ International Department Director-General Koichiro Watanabe travelled to Seoul in the Republic of Korea to participate in the 16th meeting of the Standing Committee of the ICAPP (International Conference of Asian Political Parties). During his stay in Seoul, Watanabe met with parliamentarians responsible for international affairs from both the Grand National Party and Korean Democratic Party, and engaged in positive discussions regarding the future shapes of party-to-party exchanges.
At the ICAPP meeting, the representatives of 22 political parties from 17 countries, who included the Deputy Prime Minister of Cambodia, the former Speaker of the House of Representatives of the Philippines, and the former Vice President of Iran, gathered to participate. Participants engaged in a lively discussions focusing on such topics as cooperating to realise political dialogue between the ruling and opposition parties in Nepal and between the main political parties in India and Pakistan. Although recognising the difficulties involved in such peace negotiations, they acknowledged the importance of continuing to firmly support them, all items on the agenda were approved unanimously, and the meeting finished on a successful note.
The meeting on this occasion was hosted by a Korean ICAPP parliamentarians’ union made up of parliamentarians from the main Korean political parties. The Chairman of the Grand National Party hosted a lunch, the Prime Minister invited participants to his residence for tea, and the Vice Speaker of the Parliament hosted dinner, as the Korean political world pulled out all the stops to provide a hearty welcome to the participants.
In addition, Watanabe also found times on the sidelines of the ICAPP meeting to meet with the Chairman of the Grand National Party International Committee, Ko Sung-Doug, and the Secretary General of the Republic of Korea-Japan Parliamentarians’ League, senior member of the Korean Democratic Party Lee Nak-Yon. While recognizing the importance of the exchanges between the parliamentarians’ leagues in both countries, they also acknowledged the need to establish multi-layered political channels to conduct exchanges in a variety of fields in order to achieve further development in the relationship of friendship and cooperation between Japan and the Republic of Korea.
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