Your Excellency Ambassador Koichiro SEKI, Plenipotentiary Representative of Japan to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM)
Deputy Secretary General
Assistant Secretar(ies)-General and other Members of Staff of the Secretariat
Representatives of the Embassy of Japan;
Mr. Tadaomi Nakai
Members of the Media

On behalf of the Member States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), it is my distinct pleasure to welcome you to our Headquarters and to receive your Credentials appointing you as Japan’s Plenipotentiary Representative to the CARICOM.

This ceremony today heralds a welcomed development in CARICOM-Japan relations. Your accreditation as Plenipotentiary Representative of Japan to CARICOM is an act that enhances and strengthens the mutually beneficial relationship between Japan and the Region.

Excellency, our relationship with Japan has been of great importance to us in CARICOM. We presume that that situation is mutual. It was in 1993 that the first encounter to initiate the process of strengthening the bonds of friendship between the Caribbean Community and Japan took place. In 2000 the relationship was elevated to the Ministerial level with the signing in Tokyo, Japan of the “New Framework for CARICOM-Japan Cooperation Agreement for the Twenty-First Century”.

That framework provides four basic platforms of collaboration:

1. co-operation for the economic and social development of CARICOM Member States;

2. co-operation for integration into the global economy;

3. active economic interaction between CARICOM Member Countries and Japan, involving their respective private sector; and

4. co-operation in international fora such as the United Nations and the WTO.

It is within this context that CARICOM and Japan agreed to the First Plan of Action that has guided our relationship over the past six years.

Of critical importance in that period, was the contribution by your Government to the construction of this magnificent edifice which constitutes the Headquarters of the Caribbean Community Secretariat. It is a contribution for which the entire Community is indeed grateful to the Government and people of Japan.

Another key mechanism resulting from our cooperation is the Japan-CARICOM Friendship and Cooperation Fund. Through this Fund, Japan has been able to provide technical assistance to CARICOM Member States which would not otherwise qualify for assistance under the usual conditions of Japan’s development assistance programme. The Friendship Fund was specifically designed to facilitate funding to CARICOM, from both the public and private sectors of Japan - a wonderful demonstration of friendship indeed, involving the Government and people of Japan.

The Region has also been provided with technical assistance through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) with the provision of a Project Identification Expert for Regional Development Planning, who has provided important guidance to the Secretariat staff on project development and management and given general technical advice. This Programme Officer has also facilitated the transfer of technology to the Secretariat and by extension, to the Region. I speak here to the post held at present by Mr. Tadaomi Nakai.

Excellency, Mr Nakai has embraced the Caribbean Community and has in turn, been embraced by the staff of the Secretariat. Indeed, he won a Blue Ribbon for his culinary skills in our most recent staff talent exhibition thereby sharing not only his technical skills but also the culture of Japan. We are indeed appreciative of his skills in both areas!

At the 11th CARICOM-Japan Consultations concluded in Tokyo in February of last year, officials of the Community and Japan acknowledged that through the “New Framework for CARICOM-Japan Cooperation Agreement for the Twenty-First Century” and the CARICOM-Japan Friendship and Cooperation Fund, CARICOM and Japan had strengthened and deepened relations and had achieved concrete results.

CARICOM therefore welcomes the opportunity to continue working with Japan especially to map the direction of cooperation over the next five years, through the Second Joint Plan of Action which was negotiated at those Consultations and which is expected to be adopted at the Second CARICOM-Japan Ministerial to be held in the Caribbean later this year. CARICOM is pleased that Japan is ready to continue collaboration in a wide spectrum of areas including the continuation of some previously explored under the “New Framework”.

Proposed within the Second Joint Plan of Action, is a chapter on “Partnership for Stability and Development”. That chapter envisages cooperation in the areas of the Environment and Disaster management and mitigation; the CARICOM Single Market and Economy; Human and Social development; promotion of trade, tourism and investment; sustainable growth; reinforcement of good governance; information and communications technology; and arts and culture. A Fisheries Master Plan Project is soon to come on stream which will provide support to the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM) headquartered in Belize.

Excellency, CARICOM and Japan have also had a satisfactory record of collaboration in international fora including at the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation, and at the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB). The Government of Japan has provided strong support for regional integration including the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), the provision of a video conferencing facility and, as I earlier mentioned, this physical facility. As you see Excellency, the CARICOM-Japan relationship is one of great potential and promise. Therefore as you assume the role as your country’s Plenipotentiary Representative to the Caribbean Community (CARICOM), be assured of the commitment of the Secretariat and the Community as a whole, to continue to enhance and deepen the relationship which already exists between the Caribbean Community and Japan. We fervently look forward to a beneficial and strengthened CARICOM-Japan partnership in all its possible dimensions.

Your Excellency, I extend my best wishes for a successful and rewarding tour of duty and on this 15th day of January 2007, graciously accept your credentials as your country’s Plenipotentiary Representative to the Caribbean Community.

Thank you.