(CARICOM Secretariat, Turkeyen, Greater Georgetown, Guyana) It is indeed my great pleasure to extend a very warm welcome to the distinguished delegations of Japan and of CARICOM to this Fifteenth CARICOM-Japan Consultation.
Our Japanese colleagues are no strangers to our Caribbean shores. Indeed the fact that this occasion marks the fifteenth time that we are convening for consultations between the Officials of CARICOM and Japan is testimony to the valuable and long-standing relations that have been forged between the Member States of the Caribbean Community and Japan. Since the formal establishment of our relations in 1993, the fruit of our work has been evident in a number of cooperation initiatives and technical projects in a wide range of areas, which have redounded to the benefit of the Community and our peoples.
The convening of the Second CARICOM-Japan Ministerial Conference in September 2010 brought new impetus to our partnership, and the adoption of A New Framework for Japan-CARICOM Cooperation for the Twenty-First Century, provided the scope for further collaboration in a number of political, economic and social areas. It is our expectation that today’s discussions will help us to advance the necessary follow-up work to concretize the decisions emanating from that Meeting. I am pleased to note that there has already been some follow-up, one of the most notable instances being the convening of the CARICOM-Japan Public-Private Joint Economic Mission, culminating with a CARICOM-Japan Business Seminar held in Trinidad and Tobago in November 2011.
Our encounter today will also afford us an opportunity to review our technical cooperation relationship, and the successes achieved thus far. It will also allow us to look forward, and to chart a path for the future CARICOM-Japan partnership, taking into consideration, the current situation of the Caribbean Community which has seen many developments and gains, but which still grapples with many challenges wrought by the global economic and financial crisis among other factors.
Your Excellency, we are keenly aware that our developing partners face their own challenges, and Japan is no exception. The devastating earthquake and tsunami of 11 March 2011, which claimed the lives of thousands of Japanese citizens, and the resulting fall-out from the damage to the nuclear facility at Fukushima, stand as a stark reminder of the indiscriminate wrath of mother nature, and the commonalities that all countries, big and small alike, share in terms of vulnerability to natural disasters. The resilience of the Japanese people in overcoming this tragedy, and their stoic resolve in working quickly to recover, restore and rebuild is an inspiration to us here in the Caribbean. There is much that we can learn from Japan, and indeed we look to continued collaboration with your country in the area of disaster management and risk reduction which is among the areas where we have enjoyed significant cooperation during our partnership.
We also look forward to hearing from you about the CARICOM-Japan Friendship Year proposed for 2014, and how we can work together to help to promote and increase mutual awareness of our respective countries through increased people to people exchange, and activities in the areas of culture and tourism, among other.
Co-Chair, we have a comprehensive agenda in front of us, and therefore with these brief remarks, I once again welcome you and your delegation to the Caribbean Community, and look forward to fruitful deliberations on this agenda, which I have every expectation will lead to a further consolidation and enrichment of a long-standing and much valued CARICOM-Japan partnership.
Thank You.
