Three of its grant awardees were honored with the 1997 Nobel Prizes for Physiology or Medicine, Chemistry and Physics. Japan-US relations in the field of science and technology are the most powerful ones for Japan. I would like to name a few successful Japan-US collaborations. In Global Change Research and Prediction, we have already established joint research centers in Alaska and Hawaii. The International Space Station program, which five parties take part in, is another example in which the United States and Japan jointly play a pivotal role.
Japan is next to the United States in providing resources to the program.
An agreement welcoming Russia as a new partner was signed in January this year. Japan has already ratified the agreement, and expects its early implementation following ratification in the United States and Russia. My fellow Japanese and I heartily appreciate the efforts of NASA Administrator Mr. Goldin and all the other people who provided flight opportunities to Japanese astronauts, especially to Dr. Takao Doi. Dr. Doi successfully caught an orbiting satellite in an unscheduled space-walk. The International Thermonuclear Experiment Reactor program, ITER for short, will have an extended design period for three years.