The Minister of Justice and Acting Minister of State for Cabinet Affairs H E Dr Issa bin Saad Al Jafali Al Nuaimi; Japanese Ambassador to Qatar, Seiichi Otsuka; and Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, H E Dr Ahmed Hassan Al Hamadi; jointly cutting a ceremonial cake to mark the National Day of Japan celebrating the birthday of Japanese Emperor, at a function hosted by the Japanese envoy at the Ritz Carlton Hotel in Doha yesterday. The Chief of Protocol, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, H E Ambassador Ibrahim Yousef Fakhroo; and Deputy Dean of Diplomatic Corp, the Ambassador of Palestine to Qatar, Mounir Abdallah Gannam, also present at the event.

Source: https://www.thepeninsulaqatar....

Ambassador's speech;

All distinguished Guests,

Good Evening!

Thank you for attending the National day of Japan celebrating the birthday of the Japanese Emperor. His Majesty the Emperor Akihito will be 85 years old on 23^rd this month. He is well, and he carries out vigorously the various official and public duties.

However, this year’s National Day Celebration under the current Emperor is the last one.

From the end of April next year into the beginning of May, His Majesty the Emperor Akihito will abdicate and His Highness the Crown Prince Naruhito will accede to the imperial throne. In fact this is the first imperial succession in 200 years to accompany the abdication of the current Emperor. In October we will invite foreign dignitaries from the world to the official ceremony on the enthronement.

This succession will take place arising from the words expressed by His Majesty the Emperor himself two years ago. He said the following; I feel various constraints such as in my physical fitness, in the last few years I have started to reflect on my years as the Emperor, and contemplate on my role and my duties in the days to come. After my two surgeries, I began to feel a decline in my fitness level because of my advancing age.

The Japanese people received his wishes for abdication very seriously and showed their understanding about it with their respect and sympathy. Therefore his abdication in life is to happen after the special and urgent legislative measures were taken.

At the outset of my speech, I would like to express our sincere appreciation to all the people and the institutions that offered substantial supports and tender words extended to people hit by the violent natural disasters this year.

Although Japan suffered from a series of natural disasters including floods and earthquakes, the affected areas have recovered without delay.

Therefore we are ready now to welcome overseas tourists. We are grateful if you think about a visit to Japan.

All distinguished guests,

I would like to touch on the goal of Japanese diplomacy and the forthcoming diplomatic events relevant to the Japanese government.

That goal is to make future of the world and the region something that is certain. In addition, what we wish is that the young people who will live in the future can vigorously take on challenges. The duty of our generation is to create an environment that facilitates this.

First of all, I have the pleasure in sharing with you the latest news that Osaka City, Kansai district of Japan, was elected as the hosting Expo 2025 just 10 days ago. We are confident that this Expo gives an opportunity for all people to reflect what way is the best for bringing people in future to happiness and peace of mind. We intend to design Expo2025 exploring the amenities of individuals.

Next June, Japan will host the G20 Summit. As the chair country of the meeting, the Japanese Government intends to lead the discussions about issues facing the international community, including the state of the global economy and environmental issues.

Soon after, in August, Japan will host the seventh round of Tokyo International Conference on African development (TICAD with participation of many heads of 54 African countries. We continue to seek for development strategy of Africa.

And lest we forget, next year Japan hosts Rugby World Cup, and in 2020, Tokyo hosts the Olympic and Paralympic Games. Sport energizes citizens and metropolis. We wish we can contribute to the world peace by inspiring people with one accord through these games.

All distinguished Guests,

The Government of Japan has eagerly hoped for their national leaders to serve as flag bearers for free trade. The free trade system enabled the countries of Asia to achieve take-off and fostered the middle class in each of these countries. In the background, there was the large-scale direct investment Japan has made in these countries since 1980s.

This was possible thanks to the international economic system being ruled –based, free and open. Based on these experiences and principles, Japan has been pouring the greater energy and efforts into the final agreement on TPP (Trans-Pacific Partnership) which 11 countries around the Pacific Rim participate in to create huge free trade zone. As for Japan, it was timely ratified by the Diet.

Also in July Japan-the European Union signed an Economic Partnership Agreement, and earlier next year, it will enter into effect. We can see European cheese, wine, meat, chocolate, and some other delicious foods available at reasonable price at Japanese supermarkets very soon.

We turn our eyes to the energy trade. The Asian economy has been always sustained by steady and constant energy supply from the Middle East, and in particular the Gulf Region. Japan, Korea, China, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and some other countries are becoming heavily dependent on LNG from Qatar.

As far as the Japanese import from Qatari LNG is concerned, no disruption and shortage of supply has been occurring since the first delivery in early 1997. It was amazing!

It was carried out based on the firm commitment and mutual confidence between the two countries.

It was sustained with the safety passage of maritime corridor running from the Arctic Ocean to the Sea of Japan, through the Pacific Ocean to the Indian Ocean. Taking into account the increasing trade volume between the Far East Asia region and the Gulf, we should attach more importance to the allegation on the Free and Open Indian and Pacific Ocean.

Japan advocates ‘ The Free and Open Indo-Pacific Strategy’, which derives our desire to preserve the blessings of open seas, together with these very countries, as well as the United States, Australia, India and all countries and peoples who share the same intent. What must control our sea and air spaces that are broad and wide is the rule of law, and the rules- based order, which are in turn backed by solid institutions.

All distinguished guests,

Last but not least, I would like to refer to the bilateral relations between Japan and the State of Qatar. These bilateral relations have been developed since 1971 immediately after the independence of the State of Qatar. The Japanese engagement in the energy industry of Qatar traces back to 1971 when Bundoq Oil Field started operating certain volume of crude oil was exported to Japan.

As far as non-energy sector industry is concerned, KOBELCO (Japanese Kobe Steel Company) together with the Government of Qatar built QASCO (currently Qatar Steel Company) to produce direct reduced Iron from 1975. This is the first direct investment project by Japan to Qatar.

Since then these business engagements contribute to fostering confidence building between the two countries.

According to the latest annual statistics in 2017, Japan is still No 1 destination of Qatar’s commodity export. It is the pleasure to us to see that the Japanese private sector is deeply committed to the construction of the LNG terminals expansion project.

Also the Japanese private sector contributes to vital infrastructure projects, especially those related to the Qatar hosting the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

I would like to also mention future-oriented partnership of the two countries. One is the joint investment to power generation plants in the third countries including Oman, Indonesia and Jordan. This partnership paves the way for widening the cooperating domain.

Also I would like to mention the Qatari human genome project starting from 2014. Collaboration between Hamad medical Cooperation and Riken (Science and Biology Institute of Japan) is underway and we can get results gradually.

We shall work together more closely to make big sports events taking place in both countries with a great success.

Japan should make more substantial support for materializing Qatar national vision 2030. We wish Qatar will collaborate with Japan on exploration of production of a new type of cleaner energy. That is Hydrogen. Qatar has a huge potential for producing hydrogen at the most competitive price.

I would like to conclude my speech by wishing such partnership between Japan and the State of Qatar flourishing and solidified, as well as happiness and wellness of all attendees.

Thank you very much for your attendance.

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