KYOTO, Japan (MNI) – Japanese Finance Minister Yoshihiko Noda said
on Saturday that he didn’t discuss about any concrete topics, including
solving imbalances facing Japan and the U.S., or foreign exchange rates,
when he met earlier with U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Timothy
Geithner.
“We exchanged opinions regarding various topics to be discussed at
today’s APEC meeting and the upcoming G20 meeting,” Noda told reporters
after meeting with Geithner for about 15 minutes.
Noda also said that he didn’t discuss foreign exchange rates or a
U.S.-proposed idea that member countries’ current account surpluses or
deficits should be reduced to within 4% of their GDP by 2015.
But he said, “We didn’t discuss today but I think the necessity of
addressing imbalances (facing Japan and the U.S.) is a common view.”
Regarding a communique to be issued after the APEC meeting, Noda
said that he doesn’t know whether any numerical target aimed at reducing
current-account surpluses or deficits will be included.
But Noda said that APEC members will continue to discuss options,
such as including reference rates, although each country’s condition is
different.
Noda said, “We each other confirmed our intention of succeeding at
today’s meeting.”
hinoue@markewnews.com
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