Visit to Japan by Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS)

February 27, 2004

Dr. Mohamed Ibn Chambas, Executive Secretary of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), will visit Japan from March 1 (Mon) to 7 (Sun) at the invitation of the Foreign Ministry.
During his stay in Japan, Dr. Chambas will visit Tokyo and Kyoto to exchange views with Mr. Masatoshi Abe, Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Kazunori Tanaka, Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs, and others concerned in government and academic circles about the consolidation of peace in Africa, the modality of cooperative relations between Japan and ECOWAS, and other matters.
As the Executive Secretary of ECOWAS, which plays an important role in the economic integration and consolidation of peace in West Africa, Dr. Chambas is the key person in promoting cooperation between Japan and ECOWAS.
It is expected that Dr. Chambas's forthcoming visit to Japan will further strengthen cooperative relations between Japan and ECOWAS. The exchanges of views with him will be extremely beneficial especially from the viewpoint of strengthening Japan's cooperation in consolidation of peace, which constituted one of Japan's main pillars in its cooperation with Africa in the Third Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD III) held last year.

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