ASSISTANT SECRETARY CAMPBELL: Good afternoon. Just a brief comment if I might, please. First of all, I just have come from very good meetings with Foreign Minister Okada and my colleagues at the Defense Ministry and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Ambassador Roos and myself this morning had excellent discussions with Washington – with the White House – and we passed on to our Japanese colleagues the very best wishes from the President and the Secretary of State. The President is very much looking forward to his visit to Japan next week, and we went through what we hope to accomplish during this historic visit. I think we are extraordinarily pleased with the preparations, excited about this next phase in our relationship, and we are making plans to commemorate the 50
year anniversary of our alliance and also to look at new areas where we can work closely together.
We are fully committed to this alliance. We think that we’re working very well together and everyone is excited to be back in Japan next week. I think that’s all I’m going to say today. I know you’d like for me to get into more details, but all I can tell you is that the United States and Japan are feeling very good about our preparation.
Thank you very much.
