Japanese Minister for Foreign Affairs Fumio Kishida has completed a two-day working visit to the Lao People’s Democratic Republic following successful meetings with senior officials of Laos and signing of a grant support agreement worth more than JPY 2.7 billion (over US$25 million).

Mr Kishida’s visit deepened and strengthened the relationship between Japan and the Lao PDR, Deputy Press Secretary of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Mr Otaka Masato told a press conference in Vientiane yesterday.

The current cooperative relations between Japan and Laos have been deepened in various ways including through economic cooperation projects, human resource development, youth exchange programmes and investments by Japanese companies.

This is the first time in six years that a Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs has made an official visit to the Lao PDR.  The last time was in early 2009 when his predecessor Minister Hirofumi Nakasone visited.

During his visit, Minister Kishida met with his Lao counterpart Mr Saleumxay Kommasith on May 4 and called on Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith on the following day.

Minister Kishida proposed the “Japan Mekong Connectivity Initiative”, which aims to further build up infrastructure in the Mekong Region and facilitate connectivity in the region through human resources development and improvement of the systems.

He also proposed to compile a Joint Development Plan with Laos to ensure the medium to long-term development objectives of Laos. The initiative and the plan were well-received.

At the bilateral meeting between the foreign affairs delegations of the two countries, both ministers signed the Exchange of Notes for the Japanese Grant Aid for the reconstruction of the bridges on National Road No.9 as well as for the human resources development scholarship, for which the government of Japan will extend grant aid.

Minister Kishida expressed Japan’s intention to continue to help Laos, and Minister Saleumxay thanked Japan for its assistance up to now.

The minister mentioned that Japan also intends to promote development support by putting into practice the initiative for the “Partnership for Quality Infrastructure” and “Industry Human Resources Development Cooperation Initiative”.

Mr Kishida also mentioned to Mr Saleumxay that the elephants at the Kyodo City Zoo presented from Laos are proving to be very popular among Japanese citizens. The number of visitors to the zoo has increased rapidly and last year there were more than one million visitors to the zoo.

Meanwhile, the Cherry trees which were donated from Japan and planted last year in Huaphan Province are also reported to be growing steadily.

During meeting with Prime Minister Thongloun, Minister Kishida emphasized Japan’s intention to further engage in Official Development Assistance (ODA) for Lao while making such assistance more effective through the Japan-Mekong Connectivity Initiative.

Prime Minister Thongloun thanked Japan for its assistance and expressed his wish that each Lao citizen would be able to benefit from the assistance.

He also stated that he looked forward to the G7 Outreach Meeting in Iseshima, Japan.

Minister Kishida was the first guest that Prime Minister Thongloun greeted at the Prime Minister’s Office.

Source:
courtesy of KPL NEWS AGENCY

by KPL

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