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Prime Minister's Diary

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Prime Minister visits Cote d'Ivoire, Mozambique, Ethiopia and Oman

Above: the Japan-Oman Summit Meeting
Below: Prime Minister Abe with H.E. Mr. Alassane Ouattara, President of the Republic of Cote d'Ivoire

Above: Prime Minister Abe with H.E. Mr. Armando Em鱁Eio Guebuza, President of the Republic of Mozambique
Below: Prime Minister Abe with H.E. Mr. Ato Hailemariam Dessalegn, Prime Minister of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia

Prime Minister delivering a keynote speech

the Signing Ceremony for the Japan-India Joint Statement

As a part of his "diplomacy that takes a panoramic perspective of the map", Prime Minister Abe visited Cote d'Ivoire, Mozambique and Ethiopia from Friday, January 10 to Tuesday, January 14, 2014 following his visit to Oman. This visit to Africa was the first full-scale visit to Africa by a Japanese prime minister in eight years, fulfilling the promise of an early visit to Africa that Prime Minister Abe announced at the 5th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V) in June last year.

As a message to Africa as a whole, Prime Minister Abe delivered a policy speech titled "Japan's Diplomacy towards Africa: Strengthening Each Individual, One by One" at the headquarters of the African Union (AU). He made an appeal for Africa to choose Japan as its true partner, explaining that what is necessary for Africa is Japanese assistance and the organizational culture of Japanese companies which value human resources and place importance on the creative ingenuity from the bottom up. In addition, Prime Minister Abe announced that Japan's diplomacy towards Africa will focus on the empowerment of young people and women.

"Africa has now become the continent that carries the hopes of the world through the latent potential of its resources and its dynamic economic growth.

In order to impart a lasting force for living up to these hopes, I believe that it is important for each individual in Africa to have confidence in his or her own abilities and to build up efforts going forward, in order to forge a future.

Today, I thus spoke about the useful strengths that Japan and Japanese companies enjoy, which can help make this a reality.

I myself would like to visit Africa multiple times as necessary, in order to support vigorously these efforts to bring about a brilliant future for Africa."

The Prime Minister Attends the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum (Davos Meeting)

ON January 22, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe attended the World Economic Forum's (WEF) Annual Meeting (Davos Meeting), and as Prime Minister of Japan, made the first keynote speech at the opening plenary session.

"Abenomics has three arrows. The first is a bold monetary policy. The second is about flexible fiscal policy. And the third arrow will continue sparking private investment. Japan's economy is just about to break free from chronic deflation. This spring, wages will increase. Higher wages, long overdue, will lead to greater consumption. Our fiscal situation has also made steady improvement. Japan is now getting on track for fiscal consolidation. Pundits used to say that Japan was at dusk, or the land of the setting sun. They said that for a country as mature as Japan, growth would be impossible. These arguments were made to sound almost legitimate.You can see what Japan's psyche was like before I took office as Prime Minister.

Hardly can you hear any such voices now. Our growth rate has changed dramatically, from negative growth to positive.In six years' time, the Olympics and the Paralympics will come to Tokyo. People are now more vibrant and upbeat.
It is not twilight, but a new dawn that is breaking over Japan."

"Late last year, we decided to go on major reforms. I have broken through the notion that certain reforms could never be carried out."
"I have maintained that I am willing to act like a drill bit; strong enough to break through the solid rock of vested interests. Soon, our deregulation package will be set in motion. Designated areas, on my own watch, will cut through red tape.
There, over the next two years, no vested interests will remain immune from my drill."

Japan-India summit meeting

On January 25, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who is visiting the Republic of India, held a summit meeting with Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of India.
Following the meeting, the two leaders signed a joint statement titled ''Intensifying the Strategic and Global Partnership.''
At the meeting, Prime Minister Abe stressed the importance of maintaining the freedom of the seas and the rule of law in the Asia-Pacific region, and in response, Prime Minister Singh said he welcomes that Japan-India defense cooperation is growing stronger.

And, Prime Minister Abe praised the substantial progress being made in economic relations between Japan and India, and expressed the view that India's development benefits Japan, and that in the future also, Japan will continue to support India's infrastructure development and poverty reduction etc. by utilizing ODA. Prime Minister Abe explained that the Government of Japan has pledged to provide three yen loan projects (total value approximately 200 billion yen).

Both leaders expressed expectation that Japan's sophisticated technologies will continue to be utilized in India's infrastructure development, and in connection with that, they shared the view that cooperation on improving the business environment in India in order to expand investment from Japan will be strengthened.

 


Photographs and text courtesy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the Cabinet Public Relations Office of the Government of Japan.

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