Prime Minister Hon. Rick Houenipwela early this week met with the newly appointed Ambassador of Japan to Solomon Islands, His Excellency Shigeru Toyama.
This was during a courtesy call to the Office of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
In his statement to the Prime Minister, His Excellency Shigeru took the opportunity to express his ‘deepest gratitude’ for the strong support that the Solomon Islands has towards Japan.
H.E Shigeru also stated that it is a pleasure to see work on the Kukum Highway project being underway and also stating his anticipation to see its completion by the end of the year.
The Japanese Ambassador further expressed the commitment of Japan to support further promotion in the field of fisheries and other fields such as culture, sports and tourism.
In response, the Prime Minister conveyed his thank you to the Ambassador for the visit.
The Prime Minister also acknowledged Japan as one of the most important partners to the Solomon Islands.
“Japanese assistance has come a long way and I’m thankful to the Government and people of Japan for their long standing partnership that is shared between Japan and Solomon Islands,” the Prime Minister said.
The Prime Minister further acknowledged that the relationship between Japan and Solomon Islands is important especially in the economy and trade sector and further mentioned that people-to-people interaction is also important that both countries should share.
Mr Houenipwela also talked about tourism as an important area that can provide for the people to people interaction and mentioned his support for investors to invest in tourism.
“We want to give as much as we can to show our appreciation to our partners,” he said.
The Prime Minister was also given a brief outline about the upcoming 8th Pacific Islands Leaders Meeting (PALM8) which will be held next month in Japan.
