Visiting European Commission President Romano Prodi on Friday expressed strong support for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi's reform agenda and vowed to strengthen EU-Japan relations on both the economic and political fronts.
In a speech delivered before the Diet on Friday morning, Prodi said he has "no doubt" Japan can overcome its economic difficulty, given its strong microeconomic performance and its technical, scientific and marketing knowhow.
"Japan's problems are in many ways those of a mature economy," said Prodi, who became the first European Commission president to make a speech before the Diet. "Japan is and will remain a major economy. We should not fall into the trap of easy pessimism about Japan's future."