H E Kazuo Sunaga, Ambassador of Japan to Qatar. Pic: Abdul Basit/The Peninsula
Doha: Japan aims to further deepen and diversify relations with Qatar. The bilateral relations between the two countries, which will complete 50 years next year, have reached new heights.
“Next year marks the 50th anniversary of our bilateral relations. In the last half century Qatar and Japan have built cooperation and friendship. We would like to diversify and deepen these relations. Apart from energy and other commercial fields, we would like to strengthen our exchanges in science, technology, education, culture and sports as well,” said H E Kazuo Sunaga, Ambassador of Japan to Qatar, talking to reporters about embassy’s plan for celebrating National Day of Japan. It was his first interaction with media since his arrival to Qatar in September last year.
The Embassy of Japan in Qatar will host a reception to celebrate the National Day of Japan at the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, today. This year is special for the Japanese people as it marks the first celebration of the birthday the new Emperor Naruhito. Japan celebrated enthronement of new emperor in 2019 and he was born in February.
“Our economic relations with Qatar have always been excellent and it is visible in imports and exports between the two countries. Japan is also contributing to Qatar’s infrastructure development. We have win-win economic relations with Qatar” said HE the Ambassador.
H E the Ambassador said that last year was a historic year for Qatar Japan bilateral relations because Amir H H Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani had visited Japan twice in 2019. H H the Amir had participated in the enthronement ceremony of Emperor Naruhito of Japan, in October. This visit came nine months after H H the Amir’s visit to Japan in January of last year during which a number of memoranda of understanding (MoUs) were signed in different fields, in addition to the signing of a joint declaration on the establishment of a strategic dialogue mechanism between the governments of Qatar and Japan to strengthen the existing relations and encouraging cooperation.
“Japanese government and Japanese people are very grateful for H H the Amir for his visits to Japan, particularly the visit in October,” said the ambassador.
He added that the visits reflect the depth of our relations and gives a clear indication of the determination of both countries’ leadership to develop those relations to advanced stages of long-term strategic partnership.
The number of tourist visiting Japan from Qatar has jumped by 36 percent in 2019. About 5,000 people from Qatar visited Japan last year compared to the 3,675 in 2018.
“The number of visa issued by the Embassy of Japan in Qatar has seen a consistent rise in the past few years. The Embassy had issued about 5000 visas, last year, 3,675 in 2018 and 3,101 visas in 2017,” said the ambassador.
The number of people coming from Japan to Qatar is likely to increase in the coming years, and FIFA World Cup in 2022 will play an important role in attracting tourists from Japan. The ambassador said that football is a popular sport in Japan and many soccer lovers are expected to visit Qatar to watch the football world cup in 2022. This will increase person-to-person interaction between the residents of both the countries. He said that FIFA World Cup in 2022 will be a big success and Japan can contribute in successful hosting of this mega event by sharing latest technologies.
This year is a special year for Japan because Japan will host the Olympics this year. “We also believe that the FIFA 2022 will be a great success. Before this big event, we have Tokyo Olympics this year in Japan. Therefore we would like to cooperate with Qatar in sharing our experience in hosting a mega event,” said the ambassador.
