Emperor Akihito welcomes Annan at Imperial Palace

Japan Policy & Politics, March 1, 2004

TOKYO, Feb. 23 Kyodo

Emperor Akihito welcomed U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan at the Imperial Palace on Monday and they had a 30-minute meeting, Imperial Household Agency officials said.

The emperor expressed his condolences for the death of Sergio Vieira de Mello, the U.N. special representative for Iraq who was killed in a bomb attack at the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad last August, the officials said.

Annan told the emperor that staff at the U.N. are at last beginning to recover from the shock of de Mello's death.

Touching on Iraq, Annan said there are many difficult issues that need to be addressed, such as the implementation of elections, the transfer of power to the Iraqi people, and policies to ensure the restoration of order.

According to the officials, the U.N. chief expressed appreciation of Japan's support in the reconstruction of Iraq, including $5 billion in aid and the dispatch of Self-Defense Forces troops.

Emperor Akihito told Annan he hopes the U.N.'s efforts will be fruitful and that strife will disappear from as many places in the world as possible.

The U.N. chief arrived in Japan on Saturday and is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi later Monday. He will leave Japan on Wednesday.

Annan will address the Diet on Tuesday, marking the first time for a U.N. secretary general to deliver a speech to the Japanese parliament.

It is Annan's first visit to Japan since January 2002, when he attended an international donor conference in Tokyo on Afghanistan's reconstruction.