Japan invites President Michel to key African development conference |26 April 2013

The invitation was extended by the Japanese ambassador to Seychelles, Toshihisa Takata, after he paid a courtesy call on President Michel at State House yesterday morning.
Ambassador Takata delivered the invitation to President Michel on behalf of Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

The meeting will be held from June 1-3 in Yokohama, and Ambassador Takata said President Michel has gladly accepted the invitation.

This year’s Ticad conference is the fifth to be organised and it coincides with the 50th anniversary of the African Union (formerly Organisation of the African Unity).
Ambassador Takata said the meeting will take place under three themes.

“One is the consolidation of robust economy and economic growth. Many African countries have enjoyed a fairly quick rate of growth in the recent years. We need to maintain even accelerate this growth,” he said.

“At the same time, we need to give this growth a little bit more quality. All the African people’s lives have to be upgraded, this includes climate change issues. And the third one is peace and security, which is a very necessary condition for economic growth. Piracy issues is one of the important issues for peace and security, and we are very happy to be welcoming President Michel in June.”

He added that Seychelles needs to push harder its viewpoints about being an ocean state, and also as an ocean state, Japan fully understands the issues and constraints faced by Seychelles.

“I also expressed my sympathy and that of the people of Japan to Seychelles and its people following the damages the country sustained during the disaster in January,” he said.

“President Michel expressed his appreciation for the excellent cooperative relations between Seychelles and Japan, and expressed his wish that the relations will develop further, especially in sectors like fisheries, tourism and climate change issues. So, I see a lot of room for future cooperation.”

Ambassador Takata resides in Nairobi and this is his sixth visit to Seychelles, and his second to President Michel.