ASEAN - Japan Exchange Year 2003

ASEAN - Japan Exchange Year 2003 (Nihon-ASEAN Koryunen 2003)

Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi proposed to designate the year 2003 as the "ASEAN - Japan Exchange Year" during his visit to Southeast Asian countries last January.

Exchange program and activities would not only contribute to deepening mutual understanding between ASEAN and Japan as they should galvanize their economies, which have been suffering since the Asian Financial crisis in 1997 and 1998.

To conduct exchange activities through the year 2003 with the participation of all the countries, Japan and 10 ASEAN members, each of the 10 ASEAN countries and Japan is designated as a key coordinator in each month of 2003.

Each exchange activity is organized under the leadership of the key coordinator country in a particular month. Indonesia will host July 2003 and the contact point of Indonesia is ASEAN Functional Cooperation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The following are key coordinator countries in each month of 2003. (Official site: http://mofa.go.jp/region/asia- paci/asean/year2003)

January Japan February Filipinos March Myanmar April Thailand/Japan May Brunei Darussalam June Malaysia July Indonesia August Lao PDR September Vietnam October Singapore November Cambodia December Thailand/Japan