Japanese Foreign Minister meets Castro to 'launch large-scale co-operation with Cuba'
Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida said that Tokyo wants to launch "large-scale cooperation" with Havana to support the island's reforms.
In the first visit to Cuba by a Japanese foreign minister, Kishida also met with President Raul Castro to discuss "the positive direction" of their ties, a government statement that was read out on state television said.
Kishida said Japan supports US and Cuban efforts to normalise relations and that Tokyo wants to take its own ties with Havana to "a new level".
The foreign minister, who travelled with a delegation of 30 business leaders, said Tokyo wants to launch a "new scheme of Japanese cooperation of wide range, large scale" to support reforms undertaken by Castro.
Speaking during a meeting with Cuban counterpart Bruno Rodriguez on Saturday, he said the scheme was called "non-reimbursable financial assistance". "Secondly, we would like to consolidate our economic relations," Kishida said.
For his part, Rodriguez said relations with Japan are a "priority" and that the communist country has "the willingness to deepen bilateral ties in all areas, including trade, investment, scientific cooperation and multifaceted cooperation".
Kishida's spokesman, Ken Okaniwa, said on Thursday that the US embargo against Cuba in force since 1962 was making it "difficult" for the Japanese companies to do business with the island.
Bilateral trade amounts to US$52 million, with Japanese exports to Cuba accounting for two thirds of that commerce.
