Japan’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, Hayashi Yoshimasa, has made his first official visit to Barbados, and during a meeting today with Minister of Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade, Kerrie Symmonds, discussions centred on climate change and disaster risk management.
Minister Symmonds, in welcoming Foreign Minister Hayashi to Barbados and his Culloden Road, St. Michael office, highlighted the longstanding bilateral relationship that exists between Barbados and Japan, since August 29, 1967, and spoke about how the relationship could be strengthened.
He thanked the Government of Japan for its assistance with the Japan Exchange and Teaching Programme and scholarships over the years, and in recent times with ‘The Project For Improving National Sargassum Management Capacities In The Caribbean’.
The two officials, along with Ministers Wilfred Abrahams and Sandra Husbands, also discussed possible cooperation for building capacity and technical assistance in a number of areas, including energy; electric vehicles; science, technology, engineering, and mathematics studies; robotics, coding and animation; language training; sustainable fishing, and the BIE Expo 2025, which will be held in Osaka, Japan.
The meeting was also attended by acting Permanent Secretary, Joy-Ann Skinner; Senior Foreign Service Officer, Trecia King; Foreign Service Officer II, Asha Pitt; Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Japan to Barbados, Kayoko Fukushima, and a delegation from Japan.