The government will commit to help resolve the sovereign debt crisis in the eurozone through the International Monetary Fund, Finance Minister Jun Azumi reportedly told his Canadian counterpart, Jim Flaherty, on Wednesday.
But Azumi and Flaherty, who met in Tokyo, also agreed they would first urge European leaders to devise on their own a detailed plan to rescue troubled countries such as Greece and Italy before turning to nations outside the region for help.
"We will study possible cooperation if Europe does enough by itself but still needs (aid involving) the use of the IMF among other steps," Azumi told Flaherty, according to a Japanese official who attended their meeting.
"Europe must lead work to establish firewalls" to prevent contagion from the fiscal problems in some eurozone members spreading to other countries and developing into a banking crisis in the area, Azumi said.
