Seychelles marks Japanese emperor Akihito’s birthday |19 December 2016
For the first time the Nairobi-based Japanese embassy hosted a reception in Seychelles to mark Japanese emperor Akihito’s birthday.
As a sign of the steadfast and long-standing friendship between the two countries, former President James Mancham, two government ministers – Didier Dogley and Michael Benstrong, members of the diplomatic corps among other guests joined a delegation from the Japanese embassy in Nairobi for the reception which took place at the Kempinski resort at Baie Lazare last Thursday evening.
The deputy chief of mission, minister counsellor at the Japanese embassy in Nairobi, Katayama Yoshihiro, led the delegation which also comprised the director of Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) office in Nairobi, Keiko Sano, who is also responsible for the programme in Seychelles and Ashimakawa, deputy director of Japan’s external trade.
Newly appointed ambassador Jean-Claude Adrienne was the guest of honour at the reception during which guests interacted informally while savouring a variety of Japanese cuisine and delicacies.
Toasts were raised for the good health of Emperor Akihito, whose birthday falls on December 23, and the long-standing friendship between the two countries.
Addressing everyone present Mr Yoshihiro, who was last in Seychelles some six months ago to take part in the 19th plenary meetings of the Contact Group on Piracy off the Coast of Somalia (CGPCS), described Seychelles as an important friend of Japan with whom to celebrate the 83rd birthday of Japan’s emperor Akihito.
“We Japanese are good friends of the people of Seychelles and our two countries enjoy a long-standing friendship,” Mr Yoshihiro said.
He said proof of this was highlighted during the 6th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (Ticad VI) which took place in Nairobi late August to which Seychelles sent a high-level delegation.
He went on to highlight the rich history of the two countries’ political relationship especially in the field of exchanges of high-level government official visits.
“We anticipate further developments in this area under the new leadership of the Republic of Seychelles,” Mr Yoshihiro noted.
One remarkable aspect of the two countries’ political relations is their cooperation and support for each other in international forums.
“Japan with the strong support of the international community including Seychelles became a non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council,” Mr Yoshihiro said, stressing Seychelles’ strong commitment to the international community which has resulted in it assuming chairmanship of the CGPCS after the United States last year.
“Together with Seychelles Japan remains committed to fighting piracy off the coast of Somalia,” he said.
In the field of Official Development Assistance (ODA), Mr Yoshihiro noted that Japan is one of the main donors of Seychelles alongside other countries like France, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia.
“Until 2014 Japan had offered US $63 million in assistance to Seychelles out of which US $41 million in the form of grants and US $22million in the form of technical assistance,” Mr Yoshihiro explained.
Mr Yoshihiro said Japan is helping Seychelles in its sustainable development efforts, providing support in industries in general, fishing/Blue economy, development and capacity-building in human resources through training programmes conducted mostly in Japan.
With regard to economic relations between the two countries Mr Yoshihiro said this has a lot of potential but has not been fully explored.
“We need to further promote economic relations between our two countries,” he stressed, noting that tourism is another area that the two countries should further explore.
Former President Mancham also addressed the audience and took time to trace the history of the friendship between the two countries.
A friendship which Ambassador Adrienne said is based on respect and humility.
He said Seychelles is “enormously appreciative of the assistance afforded to us by Japan over multifaceted dimensions.”
“Both our countries are island nations and thus share unique similarities and challenges,” he added.
Referring to the recent Ticad summit, Mr Adrienne said events like this which brought together different African heads of State around Japanese PM Abe to focus on mechanisms to alleviate Africa from poverty and capitalise on its enormous resource potentials, systematically narrow the barriers between our respective continents.
“We consider Japan one of our most valued friends and most reliable partners,” Ambassador Adrienne noted.
He went on to add that “in celebrating Emperor Akihito’s birthday, we are also celebrating the achievements of the people of Japan during his reign to the present day. Emperor Akihito remains a symbol of unity, stability and continuity for the Japanese people and for the rest of the world,” Ambassador Adrienne said.