Courtesy Call on Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Makiko Kikuta by Ambassador of the Republic of Maldives to Japan Ahmed Khaleel

June 15, 2011
Japanese

(Photo:Courtesy Call on Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Makiko Kikuta by Ambassador of the Republic of Maldives to Japan Ahmed Khaleel)

On Wednesday, June 15, about 30 minutes from 4:50 p.m., Ms. Makiko Kikuta, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, received a courtesy call from H.E. Mr. Ahmed Khaleel, Ambassador of the Republic of Maldives to Japan, at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Parliamentary Vice-Minister Kikuta expressed her gratitude for warm messages of sympathy and condolences from President Mr. Mohamed Nasheed and Vice President Dr. Mohamed Waheed in response to the Great East Japan Earthquake, as well as a silent prayer at the Maldivian cabinet meeting and a people's walk to express support and solidarity with the affected people. She greatly appreciated the generous and thoughtful assistance from Maldives, such as a fundraising telethon, and donation of relief money and more than 600 thousand cans of tuna. Parliamentary Vice-Minister Kikuta stated that Japan would further strengthen its cordial relationship with Maldives and work together with Maldives in the international arena.
Ambassador Khaleel noted whole-hearted gratitude of the Maldivian people for various kinds of assistance that Maldives had received from Japan over 40 years, including, in particular, the construction of a factory of cans of tuna in 1970s, as well as Japan's assistance to build the sea wall in 1980s which protected Male island - the capital of Maldives - from the 2004 tsunami, and the significant amount of reconstruction assistance after the tsunami. He stated that the Government and the people of Maldives provided support to Japan to express their sympathy and solidarity, having in mind their gratitude for Japan's longtime support to Maldives. Ambassador Khaleel added that the first batch of the cans of tuna had arrived in Japan as relief supplies and been delivered to Miyagi Prefecture.

[Note]
The first two shipments of 10,560 tuna cans from Maldives have already arrived in Japan and been delivered to the affected areas in Miyagi Prefecture. More than 600,000 cans of tuna are expected to arrive later.

(* This is a provisional translation. The above date denotes the date of the issue of the original press release in Japanese.)

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