Keitaro Sato, Ambassador in Charge of Conflict and Refugee-related Issues in Africa, to Visit African and European Countries

February 19, 2004

From February 19 (Thu) to March 10 (Wed), Mr. Keitaro Sato, Ambassador in Charge of Conflict and Refugee-related Issues in Africa, will visit Rwanda, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ethiopia, Switzerland, Belgium and France.
During his visit to the African countries, Ambassador Sato will exchange wide-ranging views on Japan's policies for the consolidation of peace and the peace process with the officials concerned of each government, international organizations and African Union (AU), as part of the follow-up of TICAD-III (the Third Tokyo International Conference on African Development).
Ambassador Sato will then visit the European countries, and in Belgium and France, will exchange opinions on conflict-related issues in Africa with the concerned officials and others in each government and research institutions. In Switzerland, Mr. Sato will attend an international conference on repatriated African refugees hosted by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), and will hold talks with the officials concerned from international organizations to exchange views on African conflict and refugee issues.
Ambassador Sato's visit to Africa will be the fourth since his appointment to his current position in April 2003.

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*This press release was issued on February 18.