In August 2003, Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi paid an official visit to the Central Europe, namely Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic. On August 20, he left Warsaw for Prague as the last destination of his journey. In the afternoon of the next day, he held talks with Czech Prime Minister Vladimír Špidla at the Prime Minister's Office and there they exchanged their ideas and thoughts on the bilateral relations and significant global issues that include the nuclear ambitions of North Korea and reconstruction of Iraq, where it had been only three months since the war had ended. According to the meeting, both of the prime ministers issued the "Joint Statement towards Strategic Partnership between Japan and the Czech Republic," which celebrated 10th anniversary of their partnership and the imperial visit to Prague a year ago as an epoch-making event and proclaimed more evolution of cooperation in the bilateral relations, in assisting the renaissance of Iraq and in preventing the further proliferation of weapons of mass destruction.