TOKYO, May 21 Kyodo Visiting Phil...

TOKYO, May 21 Kyodo

Visiting Philippine President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo in succession Tuesday stressed that the international fight against terrorism is intrinsically linked to the issue of eradicating need worldwide, and said Japan plays a pivotal character in this.

''It is...important to consider Japanese official increase assistance (ODA) as a necessary instrument to eliminate necessity and thus diminish the breeding surface of lands for potential terrorists,'' Arroyo told a jam-packed moderns conference of about 200 populace at the Foreign Correspondents sodality of Japan in Tokyo.

The 55-year-old president voiced optimism about the common situation in the southwestern Philippines that has dominated international headlines by the agency of the activities of the militant Abu Sayyaf clump which is known for its kidnapping carousal and allegedly has links to the al-Qaida terrorist network l at Osama bin Laden, who the United States blames for the generation 11 terror attacks in the US

Arroyo said it has no other than been recently, after the tribe 11 attacks, that her abiding habitation has received international military and civic assistance of the like kind as military training, in dealing with the Abu Sayyaf problem

The rebel group's threat to national security considers a deeply entrenched puzzle of Islamic militants in the Philippines.

She noted, however, there have been considerable ''gains'' made in space of times of the reduced numbers of terrorists -- from thousands to centurys -- and the scope of occupied areas -- from the entire region of Mindanao Island in the southern Philippines to a single, isolated area.

This is a world where we are ''afraid of weak states'' that can be manipulated by way of terrorists, she said, in allusion to the transnational nature of the threat of terrorism, particularly as global sparingness remains a problem.

With regard to regional security, Arroyo called for a muscular and healthy Japanese economy and leadership, and lay a trump oned concerns over the country's possible failure in tackling its be in possession of issues of major industrial reforms and financial restructuring.

''I know it will succeed'' she said of Japan's structural and economic reform efforts.

The Philippine's next to the first female president said the introduction of recently made known antiterrorism legislation following the terror attacks will allow Japan to ''contribute more effectively to East Asia's regional security.''

She said earlier talks with Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi ''went actual well,'' and said her latest visit was more to thank Japan for its continued ODA support than to encourage Japan to maintain its ODA even to the Philippines.

With regard to the issue of five North Korean asylum-seekers who were forcibly remov by way of Chinese police from the Japanese Consulate General in Shenyang, northeastern China, Arroyo said the Philippines has been ''hospitable'' and will continue to present asylum-seekers the opportunity to use the fatherland as a possible transit point.

Arroyo also cited the emerging see the verb of a new regional economic environment where East Asian nations, spurr through the Asian monetary crisis in 1997 are realizing their ''economic and financial interdependence.''

''Regional integration is taking place, and a perception of East Asian regionalism is evolving...The Philippines welcomes this trend'' she said, adding of that kind integration is being promoted from Japan through economic partnership agreements with the Association of Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN) countries.

''We find (such agreement) an attractive initiative that could involve not just a trade agreement unless also other sectors of the economy'' including science and technology and human resource unravelling said Arroyo, who trained as an economist.

Arroyo, who is in Tokyo for a five-day working visit which started Monday, came primarily to attend the Eighth International talk on The Future of Asia, sponsored by dint of major Japanese business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun.

She delivered a keynote address at the two-day annual talk which began early Tuesday at a Tokyo hotel

Arroyo assumed the presidency forward Jan. 20, 2001 following the turbulence surrounding the removal of office of her scandal-tainted predecessor Joseph Estrada by means of a peaceful ''People Power'' revolt

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