– as milestone year in CARICOM/Japanese relations is celebrated

President Donald Ramotar received a courtesy call Wednesday from Special Envoy for UN Affairs, Ambassador Ken Shimanouchi, at the Presidential Complex. The visit was to apprise the President of activities scheduled for, what has been designated Japan/CARICOM Friendship Year, according to the ambassador. 

He said that issues of bilateral affairs were discussed, along with areas of cooperation between Japan and CARICOM as a group, and multilateral issues. “We have designated 2014 Japan/CARICOM Friendship Year, and we are holding very important events between Japan and Caricom”, he said.
As part of activities, a Foreign Ministers’ meeting will take place, in Tokyo, later this year, according to Ambassador Shimanouchi. “We launched the year in February two months ago in Tokyo with the presence of 14 young diplomats from the CARICOM Secretariat and CARICOM member countries, at the invitation of the Japanese government”.
There will be cultural events hosted by the Japanese in various CARICOM territories, he added.
This year marks the 20th anniversary of bilateral consultations between Japan and the regional grouping, which are held annually. These consultations have been of great importance to both sides, the ambassador said, “and we would like to further upgrade this relationship”.
The CARICOM-Japan Public-Private Joint Economic Mission was a forum in which CARICOM promoted investment opportunities to Japan in areas such as energy, and Information and Communication Technology (ICT). Guyana’s efforts at adaptation and mitigation in the fight against climate change have also been augmented with the Japanese government playing a supporting role in the fortification of the East Demerara Water Conservancy (EDWC).
The support of the Japanese is based on a US$6.7M Joint Declaration on Enhanced Co-operation in Environment and Climate Change issues that were made between the two countries, after former President Bharrat Jagdeo and then Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met in 2007.
The accord has led to several visits by Japanese engineering experts who have assessed and proposed the application of technological innovation to the effort of strengthening the EDWC.
The commissioning of a $1.6B Water Treatment Plant at Queenstown, Corriverton, Berbice, Region 6, two years ago, is also an outcome of the Joint Declaration on Enhanced Co-operation in Environment and Climate Change issues.
The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is one of the key organisations through which the cooperation programmes are being realised.

(GINA)