A special ceremony has been held tonight to mark the 50th year of diplomatic relations between Maldives and Japan. The birthday of the Japanese Emperor was also marked at the ceremony.
The chief guest of the ceremony which was held at Hotel Jen, was Iwao Horii the Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs of Japan, and Dr.Muhammad Asim the Foreign Minister of Maldives.
Speaking at the ceremony, the Japanese Ambassador to Maldives Kazumi Endo talked about the strong relations between the two countries. The Vice Minister Iwao spoke about the historic relations between the two nations and about the assistance provided to Maldives by Japan on various occasions.
Dr.Asim said that even though it has been 50 year since the establishment of diplomatic relations, Maldives and Japan had relations dating back much further than that.
A special stamp was released in both Japan and Maldives to mark the 50-year diplomatic relations. Iwao presented the stamp released in Japan to FM Dr. Asim and minister Dr. Asim gifted Iwao with a book about Maldives-Japan relations.
Japanese Ambassador Kazumi Endo gave a certificate of recognition to MNU because they have been teaching Japanese at MNU for 35 years.
Japan has assisted Maldives in various ways, especially in education and fisheries sector. In addition, Japan continues to assist to overcome the challenges faced by various environmental problems. The seawall around Male’ is a good example of Japanese assistance to Maldives.
As for education, there is a school in every island of Maldives, which was built with Japanese aid. Most of the volunteers in Maldives are from Japan. There are many buildings in Male’ which were built with Japanese assistance.
Maldivian fishing vessels were mechanized with 100 Yanmar engines donated by Japan. Export of fish also started with Japanese assistance. The first cannery was developed with Japanese assistance.
Japanese assistance can be seen from various sectors in the Maldives.
Special ceremony held to mark the 50th year of diplomatic relations between Maldives and Japan.
