Officials to discuss troop realignment

[unhappycamper]

Officials to discuss troop realignment
By David Allen and Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Saturday, January 31, 2009

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Japan Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone will be on Okinawa this weekend to discuss with U.S. military and Okinawa officials the planned realignment of U.S. troops in Japan.

The visit comes as the last flourishes are being added to a new agreement regarding the move of about 8,000 Marines and their families from Okinawa to Guam.

Both governments are working toward a final agreement next month, an official with the North American Bureau of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Thursday.

"Prior to the project starting in full-scale during the 2009 fiscal year, the pact is a commitment of Japan and the United States to each other to carry out the projects as agreed in the roadmap," he said. The so-called "Realignment Roadmap" obligates Japan to allocate $6 billion of the estimated $10.3 billion Guam project.

"The pact is to give legal power to the agreement," the MOFA spokesman said. "For Japan, which is spending a huge amount of tax money to a project outside Japan, a promise from the United States to not use the money for any project outside of the designated purpose is important."


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=60350