United States-Japan Agreement on Cooperation in Research and Development in Science and Technology Remarks of the President and Prime Minister Masayoshi Ohira on Signing the Agreement.

THE PRESIDENT. A year ago, the Prime Minister of Japan, Mr. Ohira, and I met here to agree to a productive partnership for the eighties. It was a commitment with far-reaching impact and very difficult to achieve. We understood that. But in this last 12 months, both our nations have made remarkable progress toward reaching these very important goals.

Also, in addition to those mutual commitments which we made one to another, the world has been afflicted with fastchanging and very difficult events, which have caused the Japanese Government, under Prime Minister Ohira, to have to face decisions which were, again, very difficult. The decisions made in Japan have been the right ones. They have been of major significance and benefit to our own country and the rest of the world, and they have required great exhibitions of courage and leadership.

The people of my Nation deeply appreciate this common approach to very difficult problems and the resolve, which we share, to face international terrorism, exemplified in Iran, and aggression, exemplified in Afghanistan, with a mutuality of purpose, with a common commitment, and with national and individual courage. The bonds which bind together the people of Japan and the United States provide the very cornerstone of our policy in Asia, and they also provide the central core of the global policy of the United States of America.

On behalf of all our people, again, I want to express to Prime Minister Ohira and to his distinguished colleagues a heartfelt welcome as they come to our country and our deepest appreciation for their friendship and for their support, for their advice and for their counsel and partnership as we face these difficult issues together.

Mr. Prime Minister, welcome, thank you, and my best wishes to you and to your country.

THE PRIME MINISTER. Mr. President, thank you very much.

Mr. President, let me first express my thanks to you for having invited me to Washington for a brief but thorough and very constructive discussion on matters of our mutual concern. I feel a special sense of importance that I have come to talk with you at a very difficult and trying time for all the people in the world. Freedom, democracy, justice, and peace, which we so dearly share among us, can be seriously harmed for long years to come if we now fail to stand together.

All Japanese understand your deep emotion over the fate of the 50 fellow Americans held still captive in Iran. I join in the fervent prayer of our people for their safety. I also admire your patience and restraint, Mr. President, which can be demonstrated only by the brave. The situation is too serious.

I shall not list usual words of sympathy or support today. But let me just assure you that Japan stands ready to demonstrate her solidarity with the United States and will do her utmost, in concert with other friends, to bring about peacefully the earliest release of the hostages.

The same degree of seriousness prevailed in our discussion day over the military intervention of the Soviet Union in Afghanistan and the continued challenge to world peace. The President and I agreed that we must remain very firm in meeting the challenge posed by this Soviet aggression and that we should lend a helping hand to countries in the Middle East and in Asia for their peace and stability. In this context, I told the President my government position that the participation in the Moscow Olympic games under the present circumstances is not desirable.

We also talked about our bilateral relationship. I'm very much satisfied with the solid friendship now existing between our two countries. Never before has such a close and strong bond existed between two nations with differences in culture, history, and language as between us.

I should once again like to thank you, Mr. President, for warmly receiving me today. As true friends should, we will each air what is on our mind without fear of breaking the unique bond that exists between us, for in times of need, in times of crisis, we will not fail to extend the help needed by the other. We, the Japanese, may not be the most eloquent, but we remain a determined and one of the most dependable friends of your country. We know you are there in the same way for us.

Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT. Beautiful. Very good, very good. Thank you very much. I might say that the Prime Minister has demonstrated not only that they are determined and effective friends but also extremely eloquent. [Laughter] And this is a remarkable demonstration of good English, and I admire you for it.

And now we have the honor of signing the science and technology agreement, following which the Prime Minister will make brief remarks, and I will follow them.

[At this point, the President and the Prime Minister signed the agreement.]

Mr. Prime Minister, thank you very much.

THE PRIME MINISTER. Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT. Now you can make a statement.

THE PRIME MINISTER. Mr. President, it is my great pleasure and honor to have signed with you the agreement between the Government of Japan and the Government of the United States of America on cooperation in research and development in science and technology.

Japan and the United States already are actively cooperating together in the field of energy, under the energy agreement concluded last year. Now with the signing of the new agreement, which we owe very much to the initiative of the President, our two countries are to start cooperating in nonenergy fields as well.

By concluding these two agreements, our two countries have established a solid framework for cooperation covering all fields of science and technology. In this sense the new agreement is indeed significant, and Japan will endeavor to strengthen further the cooperative relations with the United States within the aforementioned framework.

I honestly hope that the cooperation under the agreement will make a steady progress and that Japan and the United States will contribute a great deal to the welfare and prosperity of not only our two peoples but also of the entire mankind.

In closing, I wish to express my sincere respect for the insight of the President, who has continuously made tremendous effort for the realization of the agreement. Thank you.

THE PRESIDENT. It's obvious that Prime Minister Ohira has already expressed very clearly the significance not only of the energy, scientific, and technology agreement which we signed last year but also this new one, which relates to matters in addition to energy; matters concerning transportation, matters concerning health, environmental quality, the control of disease, space, and many other elements which are now important to American and Japanese people and those of the world, but which will be increasingly important in the future.

This agreement is particularly significant, because it's between two nations which individually have led the world in scientific study, research, development, and technology. We will still be competitors in trade and in the development and the production and the distribution and sale of new ideas, new equipment, new services to mankind. But at the same time now, we can combine our efforts and benefit mutually from the exchange of ideas and concepts, particularly in the basic sciences, which are so important to us, and among our studies and the teaching of young and old Japanese, who can make such a tremendous contribution in the future.

It's with a great deal of pleasure and gratitude that I recognize the leadership of Prime Minister Ohira and the tremendous untapped potential that still exists within our two great nations for the service of our own people and a better life for all human beings who live on Earth.

Thank you very much, Mr. Prime Minister, the people of Japan. I believe this is a great day for both our countries.