Visiting US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and her Japanese counterpart Hirofumi Nakasone signed a new pact Tuesday on the relocation of US Marines from Okinawa to Guam, honoring the two allies' commitment to the 2006 road map on realigning US forces in Japan.
Under the accord, Japan will spend a total of 2.8 billion US dollars on "projects to develop facilities and infrastructure on Guam" for the relocation of some 8,000 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force personnel and their 9,000 family members from Okinawa by 2014.
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US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (L) shakes hands with Japanese Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone before their talks in Tokyo Feb. 17, 2009.[Tomohiro Osumi/Pool/Xinhua]
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Japan is also bound to provide 6.09 billion dollars of the estimated 10.27 billion dollars needed for the relocation of Marines to the US territory in the Pacific.
"We have agreed to steadily implement the realignment of US forces in Japan based on the road map to reduce the local burden on Okinawa and elsewhere while keeping up deterrence," Nakasone was quoted as saying at a joint press conference.
"The Guam agreement we have just signed signifies the two countries' strong commitment to the realignment of US forces in Japan," he said.
Hailing the pact as "one more example of the strong and vibrant alliance that we enjoy," Clinton said,"we intend to move forward to implement it (the accord)."
The document is to be submitted to the current Diet session for its approval.
In the fiscal 2009 budget, the Japanese government has already earmarked 34.6 billion yen (376.09 million dollars) for the relocation projects in the fiscal 2009 budget.
As Japan's central government and local municipalities differ over the exact location of new runways to be built around the US camp, the relocation, which is expected to be completed by 2014, has been delayed.