Subject: [cwj 64] Japan splashes out $750m for G8 summit
From: Corporate Watch in Japanese <cwj@corpwatch.org>
Date: Wed, 19 Jul 2000 10:32:29 -0700
Seq: 64
Japan splashes out $750m for G8 summit By Gillian Tett in Tokyo and David Buchan in London July 18 2000 Financial Times The Japanese government has spent =A581bn ($750m) staging the meeting of leaders from the Group of Eight leading industrialised countries this weekend in Okinawa.=20 It is believed to be by far the largest sum any government has spent hosting a G8 - way ahead of the DM11.5m-DM12M ($5.4m) Germany said it spent on hosting the G8 in Cologne last year, and more than the UK spent on the meeting in Birmingham in 1998.=20 The UK Foreign Office said the bill for Birmingham was "higher, but not much higher" than for Cologne but refused to disclose the precise cost.=20 This year's G8 meetings will also cost more than the =A563bn Japan expects t= o pay when it co-hosts the football World Cup in 2002 with South Korea.=20 The G8 bill highlights the importance Japan attaches to a summit it hopes will allow it to demonstrate its diplomatic skills on the world stage.=20 Unlike the other G8 countries, Japan does not belong to any of the big international organisations such as the European Union, Nato, or the UN security council. "The G8 matters more to Japan than other G8 members," said one diplomat. This was true in 1998, when Japan's G8 delegation was 10 times bigger than that of the British hosts.=20 Japan has also used this year's meeting as an excuse to spend money on the under-developed but politically important area of Okinawa.=20 Tokyo has spent lavishly to ensure that the meeting runs smoothly. As well as constructing new buildings it will draft in up to 22,000 policemen and eight warships, is flying in tonnes of food and has held training courses for local hotels. FAIR USE NOTICE. This document contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Corporate Watch in Japanese is making this article available in our efforts to advance understanding of ecological sustainability, human rights, economic democracy and social justice issues. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. ------------------------------------- Corporate Watch in Japanese Transnational Resource and Action Center (TRAC) P.O. Box 29344 San Francisco, CA 94129 USA Tel: 1-415-561-6472 Fax: 1-415-561-6493 Email: cwj@corpwatch.org URL: http://www.corpwatch-jp.org ------------------------------------- ______________________ The Corporate Watch in Japanese http://www.corpwatch.org/japan (CWJ) mailing list is a moderated email list in English designed to connect activists campaigning against Japanese corporations and investments around the world. * To unsubscribe from the CWJ mailing list, send an email to majordomo@jca.apc.org with text "unsubscribe cwj". To subscribe to the CWJ mailing list, send a message to majordomo@jca.apc.org with the text "subscribe cwj" * The CWJ mailing list is NOT intended for wide distribution. If you would like to post messages from this list somewhere else, we ask that you first contact us at cwj@corpwatch.org ______________________