Japan-Djibouti Relations
Visit of Special Advisor to Prime Minister, H.E. Mr. Kentaro Sonoura to Djibouti
On March 17th and 18th, 2019 (Djiboutian local time), Special Advisor to Prime Minister, H.E. Mr. Kentaro Sonoura visited Djibouti accompanied by a high-level mission consisting of 12 Japanese officials from 5 different administration bodies, namely, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, Ministry of Defense and Japan Coast Guard.
1. On the 17th, Mr. Sonoura visited the Djibouti Regional Training Centre (DRTC), which is a training facility for capacity building in the field of maritime law enforcement. The constitution of the facility was founded by the International Maritime Organization (IMO), which Japan partly contributed. Mr. Sonoura also made a visit to Fukuzawa Middle School (Note), which was built in 1995 by the Japanese ODA.
2. On the 18th, Mr. Sonoura had a meeting with H.E. Mr. Mahmoud Ali Youssouf, Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation and handed a letter from H.E. Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan addressed to H.E. Mr. Ismaïl Omar Guelleh, President of the Republic of Djibouti.
3. In the meetings with Foreign Minister Youssouf and the Prime Minister and following ministerial level officials, Mr. Sonoura discussed a wide range of topics such as development assistance, enhancement of trade and investment, defense, maritime law enforcement, in order to promote a free and open Indo-Pacific.
- H.E. Mr. Abdoulkader Kamil Mohamed, Prime Minister
- H.E. Mr. Bodeh Ahmed Robleh, Minister of Budget (accompanied to Prime Minister Abdoulkader)
- H.E. Mr. Mohamed Abdoukader Moussa Helem, Minister of Infrastructure and Transport (same as above)
4. In addition to the above-mentioned meetings, on the 18th, Mr. Sonoura inspected the pirates transportation exercise which was conducted jointly by the Japan Coast Guard and the Djibouti Coast Guard. Furthermore, Mr. Sonoura visited the facility of Japan Self Defense Force for Japan’s counter-piracy operations. During these visits, Mr. Sonoura encouraged officials of the Japan Self Defense Force as well as the Japan Coast Guard participating the counter-piracy operations.
(Note)
Fukuzawa Middle School is a middle school located in Balbala district, Djibouti city, built in 1995 by Japanese ODA. This school was named“Fukuzawa” as then Djiboutian Minister of Education said during his visit to Japan that he wanted to name the new school after a Japanese educator as Japan’s modernization is Djibouti’s model case.