Greetings to all Sri Lankans. I would like to offer a few words on the occasion of my first visit to Sri Lanka. My hometown of Shizuoka is well-known for its green tea. I am very pleased to have the opportunity to visit the land of Ceylon tea from the land of green tea.
Japan and Sri Lanka have always understood each other and reached out to each other through our longstanding friendship. At the San Francisco Peace Conference after the Second World War, the late former President Jayewardene, with his deep understanding of Japan, encouraged Japan’s return to the international community, quoting Buddha’s words in his speech. Meanwhile, Japan, under the leadership of Akashi Yasushi, supported Sri Lanka’s peacebuilding, rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts and hosted the “Tokyo Conference on Reconstruction and Development of Sri Lanka” in 2003. In the wake of the Noto Peninsula earthquake in January this year, it was widely reported that Sri Lankans living in Japan visited the area and served curry to encourage the affected people.
As a friend of Sri Lanka bound by such “ties”, it is natural for Japan to help Sri Lanka, which is currently facing an economic crisis. It is also essential for the stability and prosperity of the entire Indo-Pacific region that Sri Lanka, located at a strategic junction in the Indian Ocean, regains stability and returns to the path of economic development. Japan highly appreciates the fact that Sri Lanka, under the leadership of President Wickremesinghe, is earnestly addressing the debt issues and promoting reforms to overcome the economic crisis, and strongly supports the efforts of the government of Sri Lanka in this regard. In response to the critical situation following the default two years ago, Japan has provided a cumulative total of USD 111 million in grant assistance, including emergency humanitarian assistance such as food and diesel fuel, in a manner that meets Sri Lanka’s needs. On the debt issue, Japan, together with India and France, launched the Official Creditor Committee, and has been leadingthe process of debt restructuring. I am pleased to note that the significant progress has been made to date.
Going forward, Japan believes the priority for Sri Lanka is to finalise the debt restructuring and restore debt sustainability. Furthermore, the various reforms that Sri Lanka is currently undertaking are all essential for the Sri Lankan to bring itself back on track for economic growth and financial stability. Japan is confident that through these efforts, Sri Lanka will emerge from the current crisis in the near future. We will continue to lead the process of debt restructuring, and once an agreement on debt restructuring is reached, we will swiftly resume the existing yen loan projects to further support Sri Lanka’s development.
“Understanding and helping each other” – the foundation of such bilateral relations is to have active cultural and people-to-people exchanges at the national level. I am aware of the growing enthusiasm for learning Japanese in Sri Lanka in recent years, as evidenced by the start of broadcasting of Rupavahini’s Japanese language programme “Yokoso Nihon-e/ Welcome to Japan” from January this year. I hope that this will be an opportunity for Sri Lankans to feel closer to Japan than ever before. In addition, the expansion of the Sri Lanka-Japan Specified Skilled Worker System is underway, and we hope that this programme will be utilized even more in the future.
Cooperation between Japan and Sri Lanka is not confined to the bilateral context. As maritime nations dependent on international trade, a peaceful and prosperous international community is essential for both our economies. Creating an international community based on the rule of law, where each and every country can pursue its own stability and development in a fair and equitable environment, carries tremendous significance. Japan promotes a “Free and Open Indo-Pacific” to realise such an international community, and Sri Lanka, a maritime nation in the middle of the Indian Ocean, is one of the most important partners. We intend to further expand the scope of our cooperation with Sri Lanka, including in the maritime domain. The Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) is also crucial in building such an international community, and Japan respects Sri Lanka’s efforts in its chairmanship and hope to cooperate actively with IORA.
We will also work with Sri Lanka in the area of Women, Peace and Security (WPS), which the Japanese government has firmly promoted in recent years and which is also my lifework. WPS is based on the idea that society can be much closer to a more sustainable peace through the participation of women themselves in leadership positions in prevention as well as humanitarian and reconstruction assistance, while at the same time working to protect vulnerable groups such as women in times of crisis. I believe the importance of this would be well understood in Sri Lanka, which has produced female heads of state and government. Sri Lanka is Japan’s partner country in the G7 WPS Partnership Initiative, and Japan has supported the formulation of Sri Lanka’s WPS Action Plan and promoted the economic and social empowerment of women in conflict and disaster-affected areas. We intend to further cooperate in this field in the future.
I have learned that in Sri Lanka, the 5S’s practices (Sort, Straighten, Shine, Standardize, Sustain), which originated in Japan, has been applied at tea plantations and many workplaces and schools. This makes me feel very close to the people of Sri Lanka. Green tea and black tea, which are part of our daily lifestyle, are made from the same tea leaves. While appreciating the affinity people’s lifestyle of both nations, as Japan’s Foreign Minister, I would like to do my utmost to further develop our bilateral relations so that Sri Lanka can recover from its economic crisis as soon as possible and return to a path of growth.
Yoko Kamikawa