(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) The relationship between the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) and Japan has been advancing steadily, Ambassador Irwin LaRocque observed on Friday when he accepted the credentials of new Ambassador of Japan, His Excellency Yoshimasa Tezuka, at the CARICOM Secretariat in Georgetown, Guyana.
The longstanding relations between CARICOM and Japan, the CARICOM Secretary-General said, was growing from “strength to strength,” with an ever present reminder in the edifice that is home to the CARICOM Secretariat. Japan’s generous contribution to the construction of the Secretariat was very much appreciated, Amb. LaRocque said.
The Secretary-General noted that two High-Level Ministerial Meetings and 14 consultations between senior CARICOM officials have also defined and further strengthened relations between CARICOM and Japan on economic and political matters of common interests, particularly in the international arena where cooperation between the two parties had been “steadily advancing.”
It was against this backdrop that CARICOM and Japan sought to add new impetus to their relations in 2010, and this was formalised in a revised Framework for Japan-CARICOM Cooperation for the Twenty-First Century that outlined a number of political, economic and social areas of collaboration, Secretary-General LaRocque said.
“The wide gamut of issues and undertakings contained within this New Framework speaks to CARICOM’s and Japan’s mutual commitment to development and testifies to the ever-widening breadth of our common interests and cooperation,” he stated.
He said that the Caribbean Community was looking forward to the convening of the Fifteenth CARICOM-Japan Consultation on 23 July when the two parties would seek to reaffirm their political engagement, and strengthen technical cooperation activities in the context of the New Framework.
The CARICOM Secretary-General expressed the Community’s profound appreciation for Japan’s technical cooperation programmes that, since 2001, saw the implementation of more than 35 projects in CARICOM Member States under the Japan-CARICOM Friendship and Cooperation Fund (JCFCF) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
In welcoming the newly accredited Ambassador to the Community, Secretary-General LaRocque said that he anticipated that the “vast experience” the Ambassador brought and the broad spectrum of issues he covered in his distinguished career, would serve to enhance CARICOM-Japan relations.
