President Alberto Fernández received this Thursday (07.01.2021) at the Casa Rosada the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, Toshimitsu Motegi, who expressed his country's desire to deepen economic ties, and with whom he discussed how to strengthen cooperation in the face of the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic worldwide.
Accompanied by the Chief of Staff, Santiago Cafiero; Foreign Minister Felipe Solá and the Argentine ambassador to Japan, Guillermo Hunt, Fernández highlighted, At the meeting, the agreement between the two countries on the fight against climate change and respect for international rules, peace and human rights was highlighted., as officially reported.
Motegi, who was accompanied by the ambassador of that country to Argentina, Takahiro Nakamae, expressed Japan's intention to continue deepening collaboration, as strategic partners, between both countries, to strengthen and consolidate the multilateral system and the understanding of common values, and stated: "Argentina and Japan are located in distant parts of the globe, but emotionally very close."
Fernández took the opportunity to thank the Government of Japan for the recent donation of medical equipment, two CT scanners and an MRI, which will serve to strengthen the national health system, in the context of the pandemic..
He also praised the growth of investments in the country by Japanese companies, such as Nissan, which last August announced an investment of 130 million dollars; or Toyota, which will begin to produce new versions of two of its models after investing 50 million dollars; and Toyota Tsusho, which is carrying out a process of expanding its lithium extraction project at the Sales de Jujuy mining company.
During the meeting, there was also time to discuss the holding of the Olympic Games, which will take place in the city of Tokyo between July 23 and August 8 this year.
In this regard, the head of state expressed his hope that this will be an opportunity to "celebrate together the victory over the coronavirus."
After concluding his visit to the Casa Rosada, which lasted longer than expected, the Japanese Foreign Minister traveled by car to the San Martín Palace where he held an extended working meeting at noon with his Argentine counterpart Felipe Solá, in which delegations from both countries participated.
According to the Argentine Foreign Ministry, Motegi agreed with Solá on the need to "promote reciprocal trade and investments" within the framework of the strategic relationship between both nations..
In this regard, Solá told his colleague that Japan is a "very important" country for Argentina, not only at a political level, but also as a trading partner, and stressed that both nations "share the same values, such as multilateralism, respect for democracy and the rule of law, the promotion and defense of human rights and the peaceful resolution of conflicts between States."
Both also praised the projects "Kaizen-Tango" which seeks to improve the competitiveness of Argentine SMEs, and "One People, One Product", which supports the development of local and regional economies.
Argentina and Japan are developing their first joint project in Mozambique to improve production technologies, which will be followed by other triangular cooperation initiatives in other countries.
The ministers recalled that the bilateral relationship has very deep historical roots dating back to the 19th century, as Japan was the first country in Asia with which Argentina established diplomatic relations, and today the community of Japanese descendants in our country is one of the most important in Latin America.
Like the President, Solá thanked the donations of medical equipment for public hospitals and said that Argentina values the bilateral technical cooperation from Japan that it has received through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) for more than 40 years.
In another order, Solá stressed that Mercosur - whose pro tempore presidency is held this semester by Argentina - "positively evaluates the evolution of the dialogue process" of the regional bloc with Japan.
According to official information released by the ministry, both ministers expressed the importance of "strengthening the economic relationship between Japan and Mercosur," and exchanged "visions to achieve greater commercial ties"«.
The Argentine foreign minister was accompanied by the Secretary of Foreign Affairs, Pablo Tettamanti; the Chief of Staff of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Guillermo Justo Chaves; the Undersecretary of Multilateral and Bilateral Economic Negotiations, Carola Beatriz Ramón; the Director of Asia and Oceania, Eduardo Acevedo Díaz, and the designated ambassador to Japan, Guillermo Hunt.
The Japanese delegation was represented by the Japanese ambassador to Argentina, Takahiro Nakamae; the Assistant Minister for Foreign Policy, Yamada Shigeo; the Assistant Minister for Latin America and the Caribbean, Hayashi Teiji; and the Director for South America, Norifumi Kondo.
According to the Japanese Embassy in Argentina, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga's envoy arrived in Buenos Aires on Wednesday afternoon on a special flight and inaugurated a series of meetings, with a meeting with representatives of Nikkei communities, which include Japanese emigrants and their descendants in the country.
Before heading to the Casa Rosada, the Japanese minister, accompanied by Tettamanti, laid a wreath at the Monument to the Liberator José de San Martín, in the plaza of the same name located in front of the headquarters of the Foreign Ministry.
Motegi is the first foreign minister to officially visit Argentina since the beginning of the pandemic, and he is doing so as part of a tour that also includes Mexico, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil, Senegal, Nigeria and Kenya.
Source: Telam
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