Daily Times

The visit of Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari to Tokyo, Japan has afforded an important opportunity for high-level political engagement between Pakistan and Japan. These engagements and dialogue would further build mutual trust and confidence and mutually beneficial cooperation between the two countries, the Foreign Office spokesperson said in a press release on Tuesday. The foreign minister visited Japan on 1-4 July at the invitation of Foreign Minister of Japan Yoshimasa Hayashi. In Tokyo, the foreign minister held bilateral talks with Foreign Minister Hayashi and called on Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.

The two foreign ministers discussed all aspects of bilateral relations; including, trade and investment, defence cooperation, education, science & technology, vocational training, people-to-people exchanges and the export of manpower from Pakistan to Japan.

They also exchanged views on regional and global matters.

The two sides expressed their desire to remain engaged at all levels to further intensify dialogue and mutually beneficial cooperation.

They agreed to work together on targeted programmes with high impact, especially in the domain of solarization, desalination and water purification, housing and infrastructure rebuilding in the flood-affected areas in Pakistan. It was also agreed to conduct the language skill tests for the Japanese language in Pakistan, to facilitate movement of the skilled workforce. Bilawal Bhutto Zardari addressed the Asian Development Bank Institute (ADBI) where he spoke about Pakistan’s vision of regional connectivity and economic cooperation. He emphasized the importance of Pakistan-Japan relations and the vast and multi-faceted economic complementarities between Pakistan and Japan which could create win-win outcomes and shared prosperity and growth. He said that together Pakistan and Japan could create a robust and efficient infrastructure network, boost regional connectivity and enhance trade volumes not only between the two countries but also across the entire region. The foreign minister also met with executives of Japanese business enterprises, representatives of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) and prominent members of Japanese civil society. In these meetings, he highlighted the vast trade and investment potential between Pakistan and Japan and invited Japanese enterprises to invest in Pakistan. In his interactions with members of the Pakistani community in Japan, the foreign minister shared Government’s strong commitment to facilitating the Pakistani diaspora abroad.