Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare


The 9th ASEAN-Japan High Level Officials Meeting on Caring Societies
Closing Speech Outline.
Friday,October28th,2011 12:00PM-12:20PM
"Nishiki" Hall, Keio Plaza Hotel South Building 4th Floor

Distinguished delegates from ASEAN member states, the People's Republic of China and the Republic of Korea; at the closing of this ninth ASEAN-JAPAN High Level Officials Meeting on Caring Societies, I would like to make a closing remark to express my appreciation for your participation.

First, I wish to express my gratitude to all participants from ASEAN countries, the ASEAN Secretariat, the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office, the ILO Office in Japan, JICA and experts in a wide range of fields for sharing your precious experience and information in presentations and discussions.

Your cooperation and support made it possible for us to have extremely meaningful exchange throughout this four-day meeting. I would also like to thank observers from ASEAN countries or other institutions for your participation in the meeting.

At this ninth meeting, we exchanged information and experiences under the theme, "Human Resource Development in Health and Welfare Services – Increasing the Ability of Service Providers and Promoting the Employability of the Socially Vulnerable". It is important to achieve an inclusive community involving the socially vulnerable people through cooperation among health, welfare and employment sectors.

We need to promote self-support and self-fulfillment, for improving quality of life, which are common issues among the participating countries. This meeting, I believe, has served as a great opportunity for all of us to step forward to find solutions to the problems we are facing.

I am confident that we would be able to utilize what we have learned here to develop policies in each country and at the same time conference reports will be used at the ASEAN+3 Health Ministers Meetings and Ministerial Meetings on Social Welfare.

Based on the recommendations adopted at this meeting, we will continue to discuss the enhancement of coordination among health, welfare, and employment sectors, with inclusion of private entities.

Finally, I hope that you could enjoy the sights of Tokyo and experiences of Japanese culture before returning home.

I would like to conclude my remarks by wishing everyone success and prosperity.

Thank you very much.


Top