ISLAMABAD z Ambassador of Japan to Pakistan Kuninori Matsuda said hedesired a stronger economic relationship between the two countries and waskeen to help build Pakistan’s export base to help it meet challenges.”I wish to upgrade our economic relations with greater involvement of thepublic and private sector for the mutual benefit of both the countries,”Ambassador Matsuda told APP, at a reception hosted in honour of 10Pakistani students, who were awarded the coveted MEXT scholarships by theGovernment of Japan to help them pursue higher education in their respectedfields.He said he came to Pakistan with three goals; the first of which wasstrengthening the economic ties. He said he wanted to further improve thequantum of trade between the two countries by involving public and privatesectors for sustained economic ties. In that regard, he said Japan waswilling to work with Pakistan to boost its export competitiveness anddiversification, besides strengthening its manufacturing base.The ambassador, however, pointed to the several challenges in that respectand said there was a need to work together to make Pakistan’s exportsectors strong, particularly its agriculture, textiles and auto industry.He said Pakistan owing to its large population and location at thecrossroads of Central Asia and the Middle East was a very lucrative marketfor foreign investors and he desired to bring in more Japanese investors tothe country.”We need to improve the domestic market and industries, and to makePakistan a big export base,” Ambassador Kuninori Matsuda said.The ambassador, who has recently arrived in Pakistan, said Japan would alsolike to see a more robust political dialogue between the government togovernment level and the academia of the two countries.He said Pakistan was an important country of the region, and he was lookingforward to the visit of Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi to Japan inthe near future.Qureshi was scheduled to pay a four-day visit to Japan from February 24,however, it was postponed owing to the ongoing tension with India. A newdate was being worked out with mutual consultations, the Foreign Officesaid.Ambassador Matsuda said his country was also keen to enhance ties withPakistan in sports, culture and education. He pointed to the hosting of2020 Olympic and Paralympics games and said his country was looking forwardto seeing Pakistani athletes there, particularly Pakistan’s hockey team. Hesaid both the countries could learn from each other in hockey and martialarts.Recalling the recent hosting of the PSL cricket series in Pakistan, theambassador said cricket was getting popular in Japan. “There are severalcricket teams in Japan and in June 2019 we will host ICC (InternationalCricket Council) Under 19 Cricket World Cup Qualifier.”
Ambassador Kuninori Matsuda with a 37-year career in Foreign Service hasbeen assigned to Pakistan for first time and is determined to furtherenhance Japan-Pakistan relationship, which dated back to the establishmentof their diplomatic ties in 1952.
