Jimmy Carter photo

Tokyo Economic Summit Conference Remarks to Reporters at the Conclusion of the Conference

June 29, 1979

PRIME MINISTER OHIRA. Now, then, I would like to open the joint press conference.

To this summit there have gathered a great number of members of the press from Japan and from outside Japan, and for showing your interest in what goes on in the summit, I would like to express our appreciation. Because of security considerations, we may have caused you many inconveniences, but I hope you understand this.

Our conference during the past 2 days has been extremely useful, but in order for the fruit of our discussions to be appreciated in various parts of the world, much depends on you members of the press. I would be grateful for your cooperation.

I am going to shortly ask various heads of state and government to speak, but as the host, I would first like to give my overall evaluation.

In this summit we have welcomed three new members, of whom one is the first woman Prime Minister to the summit and the other is the youngest Prime Minister. The two new Prime Ministers have contributed much to the success of the conference with their charm and wisdom. The third new member is somewhat older, me, and I would refrain from making any comment.

Although nearly half of the members in this summit are new, I believe our summit has been able to create an extremely close human relation on the basis of the spirit of mutual support of the summit, which I believe is an important product of our endeavor.

This summit has been held as it was at the time when the attention of the world is focused on the oil problem. In order to respond to the situation, it has been said that our summit will be a failure unless bold and concrete measures are agreed upon.

Shortly the Communiqué will be distributed to you, but from the viewpoint of both immediate measures and medium- and long-term points of view, I believe we have been able to reach concrete consensus that can respond to meet the expectations of the world.

As the Prime Minister of Japan, to give the specific goal of our effort to the year 1985 has taken considerable amount of courage, but recognizing the fact that we all live in a global community faced with the oil anxiety, and recognizing the need for placing our economy on a stable basis well into the future, I felt it was necessary for us to agree to that statement.

In areas other than oil, we have discussed questions such as inflation and employment, showing strong interest in protecting industrial democracies, from longterm and fundamental points of view. Although industrialized economies find ourselves in respective economic difficulties, the summit leaders have shown strong interest in the relationship with the developing nations. I have found this very encouraging. The old economies of the world are in the same boat. By sharing the new sense of responsibility and new sense of partnership, I would like to see the constructive relationship and cooperation be developed further.

Further, in the present summit, following up on what was taken up in the last summit in Bonn, we adopted a statement on air hijacking, which I will now read.

"All the heads of state and government"—excuse me, I take it back; I have the wrong text in front of me. [Laughter]

This is concerning the statement. At the request of heads of state and government who participated in the summit, I, in my capacity of chairman of the meeting, am pleased to make the following statement which concerns the declaration of air hijacking issued in Bonn in July 1978. I now read the statement.

"The heads of state and government express their pleasure with the broad support expressed by other states for the declaration on hijacking made at the Bonn Summit in July 1978.

"They noted that procedures for the prompt implementation of the declaration have been agreed upon and that to date enforcement measures under the declaration have not been necessary.

"They also noted with satisfaction the widespread adherence to the conventions dealing with unlawful interference with international civil aviation. Extensive support for these conventions and the Bonn declaration on hijacking reflects the acceptance by the international community as a whole of the principles expressed therein."

That is the statement.

Also, in the present summit, we have adopted a special statement on the question of refugees from Indochina 1 which is another major fruit. Japan itself feels we must make our utmost contribution to the solution of this problem, and I would like to see that the statement be transmitted to other various countries and various international organizations and invite their further participation in international efforts on this question.

1 [Issued on June 28 by the seven nations meeting at the Tokyo Economic Summit.]



STATEMENT ON INDOCHINESE REFUGEE CRISIS

The plight of refugees from Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia poses a humanitarian problem of historic proportions and constitutes a threat to the peace and stability of Southeast Asia. Given the tragedy and suffering which are taking place, the problem calls for an immediate and major response.

The Heads of State and Government call on Vietnam and other countries of Indochina to take urgent and effective measures so that the present human hardship and suffering are eliminated. They confirm the great importance they attach to the immediate cessation of the disorderly outflow of refugees without prejudice to the principles of free emigration and family reunification.

The governments represented will, as part of an international effort, significantly increase their contribution to Indochinese refugee relief and resettlement by making more funds available and by admitting more people, while taking into account the existing social and economic circumstances in each of their countries.

The Heads of State and Government request the Secretary-General of the United Nations to convene a conference as soon as possible with a view to attaining concrete and positive results. They extend full support to this objective and are ready to participate constructively in such a conference.

The Heads of State and Government call on all nations to join in addressing this pressing problem.

This has been an unprecedentedly important international event, but this Tokyo summit has now come to its safe and successful conclusion, and next year we have unanimously agreed to meet again in Italy. We look forward to our. reunion in Italy.

And I would like to take this opportunity to express our heartfelt appreciation to all the people, both within and without Japan, who have supported this meeting. Because we have taken unexpected, unprecedentedly elaborate security measures in connection with the convening of this summit—and I know we have dealt inconveniences with many people, but because of their cooperation we have been able to successfully carry this conference. I thank all of these people concerned.

Thank you very much.

PRESIDENT GISCARD D'ESTAING,. Ladies and gentlemen, I think that we can say that the Tokyo summit has indeed achieved the aims that had been set. The leaders of the major industrialized nations, also the major consumers of oil, have done what might have been expected of them.

Faced by difficult situations, they have demonstrated their sense of responsibility and their courage—and I am speaking, of course, of my partners—by agreeing to enter into specific commitments after discussions that at times were difficult. But it must be recognized the subject and the situation are both difficult, too.

For the first time since the onset of the energy crisis 6 years ago, we agreed to adopt a joint attitude, a common attitude on three essential points. And indeed, what was expected of us? A commitment on limits of imported oil, a massive effort to develop alternative energy sources, and, lastly, an effort to eliminate practices conducive to excessively high prices on the oil markets.

Now we have agreed to limit quantities of oil that are imported, in the short term, in 1979 and in 1980, and also in the medium term, 1985. We jointly agreed on quantified targets, country by country. As far as the European Community is concerned, these targets, of course, comply with the targets and aims defined in Strasbourg.

Secondly, efforts to develop alternative energy sources. First of all, those that are available—coal and nuclear generated electricity, and a very substantial program for the technological development of new energy sources. Lastly, eliminating practices that have led to speculative increases in prices on some markets.

So, I think that it can be said that our countries have taken the decisions that they were able to take. But we know that this is only one part of the problem, because we do not hold the key to the energy problem among ourselves alone. And I hope that our sense of responsibility will be met by an equal sense of responsibility by those who also hold part of the key to the problem. And as Acting President of the Council of the European Economic Community, I would like to emphasize the role that has been played by the Community.

First of all, by arriving at an agreement in Strasbourg last week among the nine members of the Community, which was part of our preparations for the Tokyo meeting, and then by arriving at an agreement among the seven of us here, that this, of course, presupposed that our partners were prepared, ready, and willing to collaborate, that is to say, Japan, the United States, and Canada.

Now, there remains a great deal for us to do, it cannot be denied, in order to define the paths to be followed by the world economy. Growth that at the same time is energy saving, growth that is perhaps more steady, less spectacular. We are going to have to work a lot; we are going to have to invent a lot; we are going to have to improvise; we are going to have to change a number of the habits that grew up when times were easier. But we have tackled the problems in an orderly fashion and standing together. And this is what our Tokyo agreement means to us.

And I would like to add, with your permission, Mr. Chairman, three comments. Firstly, I would like to express our concern with regard to the situation of non-oil-producing, developing countries. Their situation is very much more difficult, very much more painful, very often, than ours. And this is why in discussions over the past 2 days, we have sought to bear their situation in mind, and we must ensure that the approaches that are adopted do take account of their particular difficulties.

I would like to emphasize the importance we attach to the statement adopted, the declaration we have adopted on refugees from Indochina, and certainly France will maintain its efforts to support and welcome in the refugees of Indochina.

And then, Mr. Chairman, we would like to thank you for your hospitality in Tokyo, worthy of the reputation of the Japanese for hospitality, and we would like to thank you for the important contribution you made to the success of our conference.

I would also like to ask you to express our thanks to his Majesty the Emperor of Japan for the welcome he extended to us yesterday evening.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

PRESIDENT CARTER. First of all, I would like to add my word of thanks to Prime Minister Ohira, to the officials of Japan, to His Majesty the Emperor, to the people of Japan who have made this conference possible, and who have also welcomed us for an official state visit.

In my own opinion, this economic summit conference might be proven in history to have a historic meaning for most of the people on Earth. We are in trouble as we approach increasing shortages of energy and rapidly increasing prices for energy. But we have decided individually and collectively not to despair, but to take action which will be meaningful and which might very well encourage others to emulate the decisions that we ourselves have made.

We recognize the seriousness of the energy question. And we have decided to act as individual nations and also as a group of nations to try to resolve this difficulty with minimum adverse effect on the people whom we represent.

One of the most difficult decisions for us, which we finally did make, was to adopt individual national goals for limiting imports of oil for 1979, 1980, and all the way through until 1985. These goals are not expressed in generalities. They will be expressed in specific terms. They are quite substantive commitments, tangible and restrictive.

In addition, we committed ourselves individually and collectively to the rapid development of alternate supplies of energy, to increase our own production of oil and gas when we have it available, to increase the production and use of coal, taking care to protect the quality of the environment, to emphasize synthetic fuel development, oil to be derived from shale, tar sands, solar power, nuclear power with a special emphasis on safety—these types of commitments have been thoroughly discussed and will be binding upon us in the future.

We also address a difficult problem of marketing procedures, so that after the price of oil is established at the source, there will be a minimum unnecessary increase in the price of oil during the marketing and delivery process.

I think for the first time publicly a group of responsible leaders representing industrial countries have spoken out forcefully and expressed our concern about the recent action of the OPEC nations. Just quoting a few words from the Communiqué which I think are significant—"We deplore the decisions taken by the recent OPEC Conference"—we refer to the unwarranted rises in oil prices and point out the serious economic and social consequences of these decisions. We emphasize that this will result in a worldwide inflation, less growth, more unemployment, will endanger the stability of the economic system of the world, and particularly emphasized, as the President of France has already said, the adverse impact on the developing nations of the world, who don't share the wealth that some of us have.

The refugee question was discussed with attention and concern and compassion for those who are suffering. We have collectively called on Vietnam and others who create the source of the refugee problem to try to help in dealing with it in a humane and effective way. And we have all discussed what we might do as individual nations to alleviate this problem.

Our country has accepted 220,000 refugees from' Southeast Asia. We are taking in now about 7,000 per month. I have committed my Nation yesterday to double this rate and to accept 14,000 refugees per month.

We have also, I think in almost every debate—quite different from my own previous experience in conferences—moved toward the boldest position, the most constructive position, the most specific position, and the most tangible position. We've not yielded to compromise by going into generalities.

I think when you read the Communiqué, you'll discover that what I have said is accurate. In my opinion, because of these reasons and others, I consider this summit conference to have been very successful.

PRIME MINISTER OHIRA. Thank you, President Carter.

CHANCELLOR SCHMIDT. Mr. Chairman, I would first of all like to thank you for your hospitality, the hospitality that has been extended to us, and for your chairmanship of this fifth economic summit. I would like to say that our chairman, Prime Minister Ohira, has contributed significantly to the success of our conference.

I would also, like the speakers before me, like to express my warm thanks for the hospitality of the Japanese people as a whole and particularly for the hospitality of His Majesty the Emperor. And to that, I might add that I would like to thank you for the effective and very courteous work of the security forces.

As far as the substance of our work is concerned, we have arrived at compromises among ourselves. We have found common denominators, and the basis of the energy policy of our countries for the years ahead has been laid down jointly. However, I would also like to say that it is very pleasing, very satisfying to me to find in our Communiqué a number of the positions that the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany has been advancing both within Germany and abroad for some years.

The readiness to compromise is essential to a successful economic summit, and this is demonstrated by the fact that we Europeans—this is true also for my country, the Federal Republic of Germany-that we have successfully sought to arrive at common positions. This has not always been easy for the four member countries of the European Community represented here. President Giscard d'Estaing has already made this point for the Federal Republic of Germany, for France, for Italy, and for the United Kingdom. We have to follow up the decisions that were taken by the European Council a week ago in Strasbourg.

And we have jointly agreed to limit our oil imports through to 1985. Here we have ensured that we have not prejudiced the interest of those partners of the European Community who were not with us yesterday and today. But we have based ourselves on the decisions taken at the Strasbourg meeting.

These limitations upon our oil imports, which have been decided through to 1985, will, as President Carter has just said, mean that our economies, indeed, our societies as a whole, will have to undergo far-reaching changes, and that means far-reaching efforts.

It is quite clear to us, and we hope that it will be quite clear to all our citizens, that after the Tokyo agreement, we are then going to have to proceed more rapidly to achieving our oil targets than we had imagined even quite recently. We are compelled to do this by the new unjustified price increases adopted by OPEC. The Communiqué that we publish today clearly indicates the joint general approach to energy problems and the economy generally.

And the Federal Republic of Germany has, since 1973, been following a clear energy policy, and today's decisions do not require us in any way to change that. But we are going to have to substantially step up our efforts in the Federal Republic, and there fine words are going to be of little use to us. And in my country, we are going to continue to stick to the basic outlines of our energy policy, the one we have been following for some years. That is a policy which aims at oil substitution in various ways, stepping up the domestic production of coal. Thirdly, a policy aimed at extending the necessary extension of the generation of electricity from nuclear sources. Fourth, a greatly strengthened research and technological policy aimed at making energy savings and at opening up new energy sources.

These goals have been ours for many years, but now we are going to have to tackle them with increased energy, and we are going to have to step up our efforts at achieving them. But the most important impetus can't come from the state; it must come from the citizens, from industry to save energy, to be economical in the use of energy, not just because energy is increasingly expensive but also because energy is going to be increasingly rare, there is going to be an increasing shortage of energy throughout the world.

I would also clearly like to say to President Giscard d'Estaing, nobody must be misled if we, the industrial countries, manage to limit our use of energy, our consumption of energy, into thinking that the several countries who are aiming at development, development to which we contribute, who have increasing energy requirements, and for which we feel a certain political and moral responsibility, that must not be thought that if we save energy, if we can substitute for oil other energy sources—we must not be misled into thinking that we are thinking only of ourselves and our needs, but also the very difficult circumstances in which the developing countries find themselves.

And, indeed, in this connection, I would like to warn everybody against thinking that increased energy costs, increased energy difficulties can be avoided, and that one can indeed genuinely derive benefits from these enhanced, increased energy costs.

I think that we must all jointly tackle the problems posed. I think that we must approach the situation in sober fashion, that it would be unwise to be carried away. We must, in our industrial life, in our economic life, in our political life, and indeed in our private activities, maintain a sober, clear attitude, for our nations, for our people, for our economies, for governments, and for parliaments.

All of this means that we are going to have to work very much harder, and we are going to have to make very considerable efforts to embody in practice the outcome of the Tokyo agreement.

As far as my own country, the Federal Republic of Germany, is concerned, I shall, at the beginning of next week, make a statement before the German parliament, before the Bundestag, in which I will explain the conclusions that we must draw in order to embody in practice what has been recognized and decided in Tokyo. This is an aim we set ourselves, and I am fully convinced that we are going to be able to overcome the problem.

Thank you very much.

PRIME MINISTER ANDREOTTI. I wish to associate myself with tee words of thanks which have been spoken to the Japanese Government and the Imperial Court, and to the Government.

I was here 15 years ago for the Olympic Games, and I was able to see that more problems are produced for the police by the heads of states rather than so many thousands of athletes.

President Giscard and the others who have spoken before me have told you of the results achieved in these 2 days. I would confine myself to two comments of a political nature.

Every year we meet to study our problems of growth, of the struggle against unemployment, the fight against inflation, but every year increasingly I see that all our discussions develop not within the limited interests of the seven countries which come together, but within a framework of a far more general character. And it is most important that the energy policy should have been the subject of concrete agreements between we European countries, between the United States and Canada, and also with Japan.

We had some doubts as to whether we should succeed in this, and these doubts have been dissipated. But as Chancellor Schmidt has said, we have always borne in mind all the time throughout these 2 days the need for a consensus policy. And in embarking in a discussion with the oilproducing countries—but here this is not only a question of the countries where oil is produced but with enormous international interests which often regulate the market, and in the Communiqué, you will find a clear expression of our intention better to appreciate and assess this complicated oil market. But our concern is for those countries who are the poorest and who feel more than us the consequences of decisions to raise the price both of oil and other essential commodities.

This year, too, in the Communiqué, emphasis was placed on a policy in favor of developing countries, expressing a wish which I think has political value that all the countries, even those which are differently governed than ours, should cooperate in this broad design for development for humanity as a whole.

Our peoples must be accustomed, become accustomed not only to look at those who are better off than us but those who are worse off than us, and I know that this is not something which is easy to do. It isn't the popular thing to do, but it is the spirit which I think moves and animates our annual meetings. And I think that this should be brought out, and recognition should be made of those who are cooperating in this annual opportunity to study together problems which are old problems and problems which are arising.

Finally, may I thank all of the heads of state and the heads of government who have agreed to accept the invitation to travel in May 1980 to Venice for the new meeting of the summit.

Let us express the hope that there will not be moments of crisis that we shall have to face and that, on the other hand, we can resume in a spirit of greater tranquility a discussion of the global developments. And I hope that you journalists, that to you journalists, we should be able in Venice to give you the help and the hospitality which I think is extremely important, because if that is lacking, even the positive results of the conference are not made known adequately.

Thank you.

PRIME MINISTER OHIO. Thank you very much, Prime Minister Andreotti.

PRIME MINISTER THATCHER. Prime Minister, friends of the press, my colleagues have already given you the bare bones of the Communiqué and some of the details as well and have set out the course which this historic summit took. I, of course, endorse everything they've said, and I thought therefore it would be best if I tried just to step back and look at this summit meeting in slightly wider perspective.

I think first if we look at this summit meeting as one of the fourth quarter of this century, we see how very different the problems are from those which we encountered in the third quarter of this century. Then we were trying to restore the economy of the free world to try to harness everything that it can do to give a higher standard of living to our people and to try to see that we got as much growth as it was possible to get. Perhaps the country where we're meeting is an excellent example of how successful the free economy could be and of how much growth could be obtained and how much growth the free world had during those years of the third quarter of this century.

Because of its very success, we now come into new problems. Part of its very success gives us a problem over the consumption of oil. It will also give us a problem over the shortage of some other commodities. And so, in this quarter of the century—and this summit is an example of it—we really are facing very different problems. No longer can we assume automatically that growth will go on if we order our economies properly. All of a sudden we've been brought face to face with these shortages and the problems that they will mean for all of us for the standard of living for our own peoples and for the possibility of rising standard of living for those in countries less fortunate than ourselves. And really this summit was an example of how to tackle the problems of the moment, and today the problem is energy, but it won't only be today. It'll be the same problem for a number of years.

And so, we tackled it in two ways. First, to try to deal with the immediate problem, very ironic in a way that we were meeting the very day that OPEC announced its price increases. So, we had an immediate problem to tackle, and we did tackle it in the way that my colleagues have announced, by trying to set specific targets, not only for this year but for future years, to demonstrate to those suppliers that we are determined to cut down demand and limit it as far as we can and make the best, most economical use of energy.

But secondly, we're determined not to be so reliant on that source of energy, because we know that twice in this very decade, the free world has shown how vulnerable it is to the increase in the price of oil, and we know how damaging that can be to our countries.

So, my first point is, looking at it in historical perspective, we recognize that the problems we face now are very different from those we faced in the third quarter of the century, and we have demonstrated our will to meet the problems of the day and to tackle them in the way my colleagues have described.

And my second point is this: Among us, there are three producer oil countries, and there are four who are consumer countries. You might think that our interests are different. They're not. What this particular conference has demonstrated is that our interests are very similar indeed. I represent Great Britain, a comparatively new producer country. But my interests as a citizen of Great Britain are just exactly the same as those of our colleagues represented here, because if oil takes too large a slice of the world's income, it will affect us all.

It will affect us in many ways. We, like Japan, have to export to live. If other countries have to pay so much for their oil, they haven't enough left to import the goods which we wish to export, and the same problem affects the developing countries. So, we're affected in that way.

We're affected in another way, that any action taken by a group of nations which severely cuts the possibility of a rising standard of living introduces an element of political instability into the world, and that, too, affects us all.

And then, perhaps in a different way we all recognize that though we are facing economic problems from shortage of energy and the rising price of oil, twice in this decade those economic problems have been caused by political problems. And we must also, if we're to solve our economic problems, look to solving them by way of a solution to the political problems of the world as well.

But the second point is that although we were three producer countries, our interests were just the same as those of all of the seven countries represented here and the rest of the Community, equally represented for the President of the Community and the President of the Commission.

The third point, the third general theme I wish to make is this: We met here under those very, very difficult circumstances. And the reason for seven countries meeting under these circumstances is this: that we believe we can give a clear lead; that if we make the right decisions, we can have some effect on the future course of the world and some effect on the destiny of our peoples.

That meant that we really had to get down to business in a very certain way. We had to reach, as President Carter and President Giscard have said, specific targets, give clear general directions of what governments can do and what governments can't. I believe that that has been achieved.

We also made one further point: The last time we had an oil crisis, we tried somehow to accommodate, some of us, the increase in oil price by printing money. If we do that again, we shall have much, much worse inflation, and we shall finish up with even worse problems than we encountered before. So, in that community you will find resolution that we accept for the time being that if we have to pay a lot more for oil, this means that we have, in fact, a reduction in our genuine income in terms of what it will buy for the future.

Nevertheless, perhaps because we're leaders, it didn't depress us. It means that we have to tackle the problems of growth in another way. And the only way you can ever tackle the problems of growth is to face the situation realistically, and that we have done at this summit.

So, Mr. Chairman, my contribution is those three points. In historical perspective and facing our new problems, first; secondly, that our interests are as one—no country is an island, and I think I'm the right country to say that—no country is an island in its interests, and we are not any more than Japan is. Our interests are together. And our future prosperity and happiness and success of our people will only be achieved together and in concert with other nations, including those not represented here. And thirdly; that we did try to give a lead in these very difficult world problems.

Finally, Mr. Chairman, may I join my colleagues in thanking the Emperor for his wonderful hospitality, in thanking you, Mr. Prime Minister, for steering us through sometimes very difficult debates to a successful and succinct Communiqué-and I'm particularly pleased about the "succinct," as well as the "successful"—to thank also the security forces, who've made a tremendous effort, and to thank all of the administrative staff, who've attended to every meticulous detail.

We thank you for your generosity, for your kindness, and we wish you well in the future.

Thank you.

PRIME MINISTER OHIRA. Thank you. Prime Minister Clark?

PRIME MINISTER CLARK. Thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister. And as the Prime Minister of a nation that is a good neighbor to Japan, separated only by a little bit of ocean, I wanted to begin by expressing on behalf of the government and the people of Canada my very real congratulations to you personally and to your colleagues in government, and our very real appreciation to the people of Japan for the excellent way in which arrangements have been made for a summit that I think the world will see is an historic summit.

[In French] For Canada this summit was of the greatest importance, since the main issue to be discussed was energy. Canada, in fact, is privileged, since it has abundant energy resources, and it is incumbent upon us to develop them as fast as possible for our own use as well as for other countries. 1

1 Translation provided by the Canadian Embassy in the United States.

[In English] My Government consequently is going to take all necessary action to achieve our own domestic goals of energy self-sufficiency for 1990. The work of this summit meeting provides a solid foundation from which we can launch this major Canadian effort.

In the immediate future, we in Canada are faced with the problem of declining oil production in our major producing province of Alberta. Until the mid-1980's, our oil production from conventional sources in that Province will decline and decline dramatically. Consequently, imports into Canada must rise.

[At this point, the Prime Minister again spoke in French. He then translated his remarks as follows.]

Faced with the world oil shortage and in our own economic interests, I am firmly decided to keep imports as low as possible. We shall achieve this target by accelerating our energy conservation program, replacing oil by other energy sources, and by developing as quickly as possible energy sources of nonconventional character.

In keeping with that commitment, I have pledged Canada at this summit to reduce our net oil imports in 1985 to 600,000 barrels per day, from the projected 'need of 650,000 barrels per day.

Now, I'm convinced, Mr. Chairman, and colleagues, that working together, the countries represented at this summit will deal effectively with the energy problems now facing us. I'm convinced that, working together, all of the people of my country in Canada will be able to achieve the goals which we have established here of moving towards energy self-sufficiency.

Now, while we have all, throughout the summit, been very concerned about the impact of the energy situation on industrialized countries of the world, I am very pleased that attention has also been paid to the special energy problems of the Third World, and that we have also called the attention of the world to the appalling refugee situation in Southeast Asia and requested immediate action both as to the cause and to the consequences of that tragedy.

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

PRIME MINISTER OHIRA. Thank you very much.

Lastly, but not the least, Mr. Jenkins.

PRESIDENT JENKINS. Mr. Prime Minister, ladies and gentlemen, at this stage there is little to add, and I believe that brevity will be more valued than any other quality.

Like the heads of state and government who have spoken before me, I am glad that we have been able to concentrate on the challenge of the energy crisis and agree on medium-term goals for oil imports, as well as for conservation and new development measures in the energy field.

I take satisfaction in the fact that the work done by the European Council at Strasbourg provided such a good foundation for and contribution to the results of this summit. Here in Tokyo, the industrialized nations have, I believe, put themselves in a better position to deal with the inevitable damage caused to us by scarce and expensive oil. We have done so without forgetting the still worse, indeed potentially crushing impact upon the developing countries, and we have done so in the knowledge that we must follow our words with action if they are to succeed.

I add my thanks to the Emperor, to the Prime Minister, the Government and people of Japan for the welcome they have given us.

PRIME MINISTER OHIRA. Thank you very much, President Jenkins.

Ladies and gentlemen, this closes the joint press conference.

Thank you very much for your attention.

Note: Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira of Japan, chairman of the Conference, spoke at 5:35 p.m. in the Banquet Room at the New Otani Hotel. He spoke in Japanese. President Valery Giscard d'Estaing of France, Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of the Federal Republic of Germany, and Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti of Italy also spoke in their native languages. The translations of their remarks follow the press release.

President Carter, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher of the United Kingdom, Prime Minister Joe Clark of Canada, and Roy Jenkins, President of the Commission of the European Communities, spoke in English.

The remarks of the participants concluded 2 days of meetings, consisting of four sessions, at the Akasaka Palace. On the evening of the first day's meetings, the conference participants attended a state dinner, hosted by Emperor Hirohito, at the Imperial Palace.

Jimmy Carter, Tokyo Economic Summit Conference Remarks to Reporters at the Conclusion of the Conference Online by Gerhard Peters and John T. Woolley, The American Presidency Project https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/node/249265

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