Japan-Eritrea Relations
Japan-Eritrea Foreign Ministers’ Meeting
On August 26, commencing at 5:55 p.m., for approximately 30 minutes, Mr. Fumio Kishida, Minister for Foreign Affairs, who was visiting Nairobi (Kenya) to attend the Sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD VI), held a Japan-Eritrea Foreign Ministers’ Meeting with H.E. Mr. Osman Saleh, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Eritrea. The overview is as follows.
1. In his opening remarks, Foreign Minister Kishida expressed a heartfelt welcome to Foreign Minister Saleh for his attendance at TICAD VI and his desire to work together for the success of this first TICAD in Africa. In response, Foreign Minister Saleh conveyed Eritrea’s desire to cooperate during the TICAD.
2. Foreign Minister Kishida commented that Eritrea is a geopolitically important country and that Japan hopes that it will proactively contribute to stability in the region of the Horn of Africa and announced that Japan plans to accept two long-term interns from Eritrea from September 2016 as part of the ABE Initiative. He also expressed his hope for progress in sports exchanges ahead of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
3. In response, Foreign Minister Saleh stated that Eritrea also hopes to work toward regional stability. He commented that the Government of Eritrea wants to pursue human resource development as priority and intends to make efforts in the area of sports to achieve results in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and Paralympics.
4. Furthermore, the two Ministers exchanged opinions on cooperation in the international arena, including United Nations Security Council reform.