ISLAMABAD: Celebrating the 70th anniversary of the establishment of Japan-Pakistan diplomatic relations, Ambassador of Japan Wada Mitsuhiro said that both countries should renew their commitment towards further developing close ties for 70 more years.

Speaking to Rawalpindi-Islamabad based senior journalists at his residence on Friday evening, Ambassador Wada said: “We should make a firm commitment towards deepening our cherished ties which will amplify the welfare of both countries’ people.”

As a trusted partner, Japan has tirelessly been supporting Pakistan, he said, adding the relationship between Japan and Pakistan has been very close as Daireena Dost and continues to spread through mutual cooperation based on shared values such as democracy, peace and sustainable development.

Japan attaches immense importance to its relationship with Pakistan and is fully committed towards further improving ties in all areas of mutual interest, he said.

“I am fully committed towards further developing our long-standing friendship through various channels,” the Japanese ambassador said, adding Japan remains to be one of the major bilateral development partners to Pakistan since 1954, extending assistance in multifaceted sectors of socio-economic development. The total value of assistance has amounted to $11.7 billion and 7,273 trainees have been accepted from Pakistan as of January 2022.

This includes Japanese concessional loan, grant assistance and technical cooperation that has been utilised mostly for supporting infrastructure and social development including assistance on creating roads, power generation, transmission, distribution, water and sanitation, agriculture, education, health, security, disaster management, climate change and human resources development.

The Kohat tunnel, Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences (Pims), the construction of steel bridges near Fort Munro which connects southern Punjab to Balochistan via N-70, Indus Highway, Weather Forecasting and Surveillance Radar System are a few examples of Japanese assistance.

Among others, polio eradication is one of the focused areas of Japanese assistance towards the country. Since 1996, the Japanese government together with other partners has been consistently assisting Pakistan to eliminate this disease, Ambassador Wada explained, adding Pakistan was the first country that started to export cotton to Japan in the 1950s, which played an important role for Japanese post-war reconstruction.

Japan processed raw cotton from Pakistan into yarn and cloth, and on the other hand Japan exported machinery such as spindles to Pakistan.

In this way, the two countries helped each other particularly in the textile sector, he said.

According to the ambassador, during the first decade after Pakistan’s independence, a number of Japanese business offices were set up in Karachi mainly for trading purposes, and today, he said: “We continue to make further efforts to promote a business relationship.

“We are working for a more business-friendly environment for activities of foreign companies in Pakistan, which will surely lead to mutual economic benefits.”

Published in Dawn, December 4th, 2022