Taoiseach Brian Cowen met Emperor Akihito today on the final day of his five-day visit to Japan.
Later, the Taoiseach will visit the Tokyo operations of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, where he will discuss new developments in renewable energy and environmentally friendly technologies with the chairman, Kazuo Tsukuda.
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries employs 33,000 people worldwide and has an annual turnover of almost $32 billion.
Today’s meetings are the final engagements of the visit to Japan, which was at the official invitation of the Japanese government. The visit commemorates the 50th anniversary of the commencement of diplomatic relations between both countries.
Mr Cowen and Japanese prime minister Taro Aso discussed the global recession, the crisis in the Middle East and the incoming Obama administration during their first bilateral meeting in Tokyo last night.
Mr Cowen afterwards described the meeting as very successful and disclosed that he had invited Mr Aso to visit Ireland. The summit was held at the residence of the prime minister and lasted longer than the 30 minutes scheduled. Mr Cowen then attended a working dinner hosted by Mr Aso.
Both leaders discussed specific areas of bilateral relations, he later told reporters, and there had been a broad political discussion about the economic situation and about major foreign policy issues.
“The Middle East obviously came up for discussion, and also the whole question of Japan’s positions on non-proliferation and disarmament, which are similar to ours.
“The North Korea problem is one that is particularly acute for them and the lack of progress in the six-party talks [on North Korea’s nuclear weapons’ programme] is one of concern,” he said.
“We also discussed the incoming Obama administration and the impact that it may have as well as broad economic issues and how Japan is coping with this recession the same as ourselves.”
Mr Cowen said that Mr Aso had outlined to him the details and rationale behind his Government’s 3 trillion yen (€25 billion) package to increase domestic demand.