Press Conferences

Foreign Press Secretary KITAMURA Toshihiro: This is my first press conference since June 24, as travel and press conference schedules overlapped for several weeks. I apologize for the inconvenience.

At the outset, I have one announcement on recruitment at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA).

MOFA will accept applications for its mid-career recruitment examinations for career-track and specialist positions from Friday, July 31 to Monday, August 31.

In addition, applications are currently being accepted for the mid-career recruitment examination for administrative positions, with a deadline of Friday, August 14.

Furthermore, applications for fixed-term positions, which are recruited every two months, will open for approximately 50 posts from Monday, August 3.

Please refer to the MOFA website for details on each of these positions. We look forward to receiving applications from those who are eager to work with us at the forefront of diplomacy.

That concludes my opening remarks.

Jiji Press, KINOSHITA: I would like to ask about information dissemination by senior MOFA officials. This month, Ms. TAKAHASHI Misako, Director-General of the African Affairs Department, opened an “X” account under her own name. The account lists her title as Director-General of the African Affairs Department in the profile section, and introduces MOFA’s initiatives related to Africa. Could you tell us the background and purpose behind the opening of this account, and whether this is the first personal X account by a MOFA official, apart from the Minister and the Press Secretary? In addition, the International Cooperation Bureau opened an account on the online posting site “note,” on which Mr. HARADA Takashi, Director of the Bureau’s Development Policy Division, has been posting under his own name. If you have any thoughts on the benefits of personal information dissemination by senior officials and on future developments, I would like to hear your comments as well.

Press Secretary KITAMURA: The X account by the Director-General of the African Affairs Department that you mentioned was opened in early July this year as a pilot initiative, with the aim of disseminating timely information on the significance and importance of Japan’s diplomacy toward Africa.

As for your question about opening an X account under an official title, within MOFA, the Director-General of the African Affairs Department was the first to open an X account, apart from the one run by me, the Press Secretary. You also mentioned the Minister’s account, but MOFA does not operate an account under the official title of Foreign Minister. Outside the Ministry headquarters, at diplomatic missions overseas, many ambassadors have already been disseminating information under the official title of Ambassador.

Furthermore, in addition to accounts under official titles, more than 25 divisions and sections within the MOFA headquarters, and nearly all diplomatic missions overseas, have each opened accounts and have been disseminating information about their daily work, initiatives, and diplomatic activities.

As for your other question regarding the International Cooperation Bureau’s “note” account, this is intended to allow the Bureau’s division and section chiefs to directly disseminate information on the significance of ODA and their efforts on the ground.

MOFA considers it very important to gain public understanding of Japan’s foreign policy broadly. Going forward, we intend to continue strengthening our efforts to communicate clearly on diplomatic matters by making use of opportunities such as press conferences like today, and various means including social media.

Since you have asked a question about information dissemination, I would like to take this opportunity to explain the Africa Youth Program once again. As I mentioned at the outset, this is my first press conference in a month since June 24. During that time, content based on inaccurate information about the Africa Youth Program has been disseminated on the internet and beyond.

As I explained previously, the Africa Youth Program is one of Japan’s initiatives announced at the Ninth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD 9) in August last year, and is a program aimed at promoting mutual understanding between Japan and Africa. Through two-way activities such as mutual visits and exchanges between the younger generations of Japan and Africa, it seeks to put into practice the “co-creation”—creating together— that TICAD advocates.

I introduced the first phase of this program at my previous press conference. From June 29 to July 8, 124 high school students from five African countries visited Japan and fostered mutual understanding among the younger generations through exchanges with Japanese high school and university students. Upon returning to their home countries, the high school students expressed their gratitude to Japan, along with sentiments such as wanting to establish Japan clubs at their schools, or hoping to become a bridge between Japan and Africa in the future.

From the end of August, 72 Japanese university students will visit Egypt, Rwanda, Ethiopia, and Zambia, each spending approximately two weeks in one of these countries. Additionally, the second group of high school students from Africa, specifically from Ethiopia, Senegal, Rwanda, Egypt, and Zambia, is scheduled to visit Japan, staying for approximately two weeks for exchange activities as well, and then returning to their respective home countries.

In addition to these programs, various other initiatives are planned under the framework of the Africa Youth Program going forward.

The high school students visiting Japan from Africa are selected from what are regarded as prestigious schools in each country, and are young people expected to become future leaders who will support their nations. Young Africans come to know Japan, and young Japanese come to know Africa—through this, we believe we can build people-to-people relationships of trust spanning decades to come between Japan and Africa, which is rising rapidly in the international community and experiencing remarkable economic growth, and foster experts on Japan.