Ozawa not to go to World Economic Forum in Davos after all

Japan Policy & Politics, Jan 28, 2008

TOKYO, Jan. 22 Kyodo

Democratic Party of Japan President Ichiro Ozawa will not attend the World Economic Forum this week in the Swiss resort town of Davos after all, backtracking again on his plan, members of the main opposition party said Tuesday.

DPJ Secretary General Yukio Hatoyama will instead travel to Switzerland to attend the annual gathering, scheduled to begin Wednesday and last five days, as Ozawa decided against making the trip due to health reasons, the party members said.

But Ozawa said at a press conference Tuesday he had never finalized his decision to go to Davos and was only considering the possibility of going while taking into account the ''tense situation'' in Japan's parliament whose regular session got under way last Friday.

''With the Diet situation the way it is, I have not set a schedule to attend the Davos conference for now,'' Ozawa said.

He dodged a question on whether he decided against going due to his health condition, saying, ''You'll find out when you become 65 years old that you cannot run around here and there like you did when you were young.''

Hatoyama is set to head for Switzerland on Wednesday, attend the Davos event on Thursday and return to Japan on Saturday, according to the DPJ members.

On Jan. 10, a senior DPJ member said Ozawa was scheduled to attend the World Economic Forum and deliver a keynote speech as well as hold talks with U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on the sidelines before visiting Britain.

A week later, Ozawa canceled his plan apparently because not enough time had been allocated for his meeting with Ban and also after considering the anticipated demands of parliamentary business.

Then last Friday, Ozawa was said to have told his aides that he reversed his cancellation and decided to travel to Davos because he was strongly urged by the United Nations and people associated with the Davos forum to reconsider, according to the senior member.