Japan-Vanuatu Relations
Japan - the Republic of Vanuatu Summit Meeting
（Photo: Cabinet Public Relations Office）
On March 14, commencing at 4:36 p.m. for approximately 15 minutes, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held a summit meeting with H.E. Baldwin Jacobson Lonsdale, President of the Republic of Vanuatu, who was visiting Sendai to attend the Third UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. The overview of the meeting is as follows.
1. Prime Minister Abe expressed his heartfelt condolences regarding the damage brought on Vanuatu by Cyclone Pam, and stated that Japan would like to provide assistance to the maximum extent, and that he had issued instructions within the Government to respond swiftly. In response, President Lonsdale expressed his deepest gratitude for Prime Minister Abe’s words of condolence and his reference to assistance, and also expressed again his condolences for the victims of the Great East Japan Earthquake.
2. The two leaders, reiterating the importance of disaster risk reduction measures, confirmed their cooperation toward the success of the UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, and shared a view to further reinforcing cooperation toward the success of the 7th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting this May.
3. President Lonsdale expressed his gratitude for Japan’s ODA assistance, and the two leaders agreed to continue to strive for even strengthened bilateral relationship between the two countries.