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Meeting of Foreign Ministers of Japan and Sierra Leone

January 28, 2008

　On January 23 (Wed), Mr. Masahiko Koumura, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, held a meeting with Ms. Zainab Hawa Bangura, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Sierra Leone, who is visiting Japan to attend the symposium “Building Peace – Japan and UN.”  The outline of the meeting is as follows.

1. Mr. Koumura told Ms. Bangura that he was very pleased to see that exchange between Japan and Sierra Leone is advancing through the visits to Sierra Leone by the then Foreign Minister Masayoshi Hamada in July last year, Mr. Kenzo Oshima, Senior Vice President of the Japan International Co-operation Agency (JICA), this month, and this visit to Japan by Ms. Bangura.
    
2. Ms. Bangura delivered Mr. Koumura a message from Mr. Ernest Bai Koroma, President of Sierra Leone, saying that he deeply appreciates Japan’s assistance to Sierra Leone, especially the assistance in the energy field, which President Koroma considers as the first priority, and that he plans to attend TICAD IV in May this year and looks forward to seeing the relationship between Japan and Sierra Leone strengthened further.
    
3. Mr. Koumura said: he is very pleased to know that President Koroma will attend TICAD IV and welcomes the visits to Japan by President Koroma and Foreign Minister Bangura; notes on assistance to Sierra Leone in the electric power field were exchanged last week; and Japan will continue its assistance to Sierra Leone to help the development of the country.
    
4. Mr. Koumura also highly evaluates the concerted efforts to achieve peace and stability in West Africa being made by Sierra Leone at the Peace Building Commission, and said that Japan will continue to contribute to Sierra Leone’s efforts under the concept announced by Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda recently that Japan intends to become a “peace fostering nation” that actively assists peace-building and contributes to the welfare and development of the human society.
    
5. The Foreign Ministers of Japan and Sierra Leone exchanged opinions on cooperation in the international arena, and Mr. Koumura expressed his gratitude for Sierra Leone’s support for Japan’s candidature for election to non-permanent membership of the United Nations Security Council.

Related Information (Japan-Sierra Leone Relations)