Hayashi Yoshi­masa,

Min­is­ter for For­eign Af­fairs of Japan

It is my great plea­sure to be the first Japan­ese For­eign Min­is­ter to vis­it the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go, while mark­ing a new chap­ter in the re­la­tions be­tween the two coun­tries. Trinidad and To­ba­go is well-known to Japan­ese mu­sic lovers, in­clud­ing my­self, for its world-fa­mous Car­ni­val, and as the birth­place of steel­pan as well as so­ca and ca­lyp­so mu­sic.

Al­though ge­o­graph­i­cal­ly dis­tant, our two coun­tries are both mar­itime na­tions sur­round­ed by oceans, and are im­por­tant part­ners who share val­ues and prin­ci­ples. Since the es­tab­lish­ment of diplo­mat­ic re­la­tions in 1964, we have con­sis­tent­ly had good re­la­tions. In par­tic­u­lar, Japan has close­ly co­op­er­at­ed with Trinidad and To­ba­go — one of the lead­ing coun­tries of the Caribbean Com­mu­ni­ty (Cari­com), which is a ma­jor group in the in­ter­na­tion­al are­na — with­in the frame­work of the Unit­ed Na­tions, and in ar­eas such as dis­as­ter man­age­ment and cli­mate change.

In 2014, Trinidad and To­ba­go was the first Caribbean coun­try vis­it­ed by a Prime Min­is­ter of Japan, then Prime Min­is­ter ABE Shin­zo, who marked the 50th an­niver­sary of the es­tab­lish­ment of diplo­mat­ic re­la­tions be­tween Japan and Trinidad and To­ba­go. On that oc­ca­sion, the his­toric “Japan-Cari­com Sum­mit” was held for the first time in Port-of-Spain. At the Sum­mit, Japan an­nounced its three pil­lars of co­op­er­a­tion with the Cari­com, which re­main to this day: (1) Co­op­er­a­tion to over­come the vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties par­tic­u­lar to small is­land states; (2) Deep­en­ing ex­changes; and (3) Co­op­er­a­tion in the in­ter­na­tion­al are­na.

Japan and Caribbean coun­tries are is­land states and thus face the com­mon chal­lenge of be­ing prone to nat­ur­al dis­as­ters. We recog­nise that Caribbean coun­tries, in­clud­ing Trinidad and To­ba­go, ex­pe­ri­ence de­vel­op­ment chal­lenges and dif­fi­cul­ties par­tic­u­lar to is­land states, in spite of the high per capi­ta in­come. In or­der to over­come the unique vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties of these is­land states, Japan has been pro­vid­ing spe­cif­ic as­sis­tance cor­re­spond­ing to each coun­try’s cir­cum­stances in ac­cor­dance with the above­men­tioned three pil­lars.

In re­cent years, Japan has un­der­tak­en ini­tia­tives with Trinidad and To­ba­go to ad­dress the vul­ner­a­bil­i­ties par­tic­u­lar to is­land states, such as cli­mate change and en­vi­ron­men­tal is­sues. These ini­tia­tives in­clude as­sist­ing in the re­moval of the Sar­gas­sum sea­weed, which dam­ages the beau­ti­ful land­scape and ma­rine en­vi­ron­ment of Trinidad and To­ba­go and ad­verse­ly af­fects the two im­por­tant in­dus­tries of tourism and fish­ery in the coun­try; as well as strength­en­ing the health­care sys­tem in light of the out­break of COVID-19 pan­dem­ic. We are com­mit­ted to con­tin­ue to ac­tive­ly pro­vide co­op­er­a­tion based on the three pil­lars with an ap­proach unique to Japan.

Trade and in­vest­ment are key to sus­tain­able de­vel­op­ment. Japan­ese com­pa­nies are par­tic­i­pat­ing and con­tribut­ing in sec­tors such as en­er­gy and pow­er, which are con­ducive to the ba­sic in­fra­struc­ture of Trinidad and To­ba­go. I look for­ward to strength­en­ing our eco­nom­ic ties with the twin is­land Re­pub­lic, as one of the lead­ing en­er­gy sup­pli­ers in the re­gion.

The re­la­tion­ship be­tween Japan and Trinidad and To­ba­go has deep­ened sig­nif­i­cant­ly over the past decade. Next year will mark the 60th an­niver­sary of the es­tab­lish­ment of diplo­mat­ic re­la­tions be­tween the two coun­tries, and Japan will be strength­en­ing ex­changes with Trinidad and To­ba­go and oth­er Cari­com coun­tries by des­ig­nat­ing the year as “Japan-Cari­com Friend­ship Year 2024.” Specif­i­cal­ly, in prepa­ra­tion for the 60th an­niver­sary, the Em­bassy of Japan in Trinidad and To­ba­go and the Min­istry of For­eign and Cari­com Af­fairs of the Re­pub­lic of Trinidad and To­ba­go, will fa­cil­i­tate dis­cus­sions to fur­ther ex­pand and strength­en bi­lat­er­al re­la­tions through the Joint Task Force es­tab­lished last year.

The best em­bod­i­ment of friend­ship is peo­ple-to-peo­ple ex­change. The Japan Ex­change and Teach­ing (JET) Pro­gramme, which in­vites for­eign na­tion­als to Japan to teach Eng­lish, plays an im­por­tant role in en­hanc­ing mu­tu­al un­der­stand­ing be­tween Japan and oth­er coun­tries. The par­tic­i­pants from Trinidad and To­ba­go, of which 66 are cur­rent­ly in Japan, have taught Eng­lish to young stu­dents across the coun­try. These Trin­bag­o­ni­ans serve as a bridge be­tween the two coun­tries, for which I would like to ex­press my grat­i­tude.

Ad­di­tion­al­ly, there are many peo­ple in Trinidad and To­ba­go who are fa­mil­iar with Japan­ese ani­me, man­ga, and Bu­do (mar­tial arts) such as ju­do, karate and kendo, and some are al­so study­ing the Japan­ese lan­guage. Next week, from Fri­day May 12th to Mon­day 15th, 2023, the Em­bassy of Japan in Trinidad and To­ba­go will be host­ing a cul­tur­al pro­gramme of Japan­ese tra­di­tion­al ‘Ji­u­ta­mai’ dance per­for­mances and work­shops in col­lab­o­ra­tion with and per­formed at the Acad­e­my for the Per­form­ing Arts (APA), the Uni­ver­si­ty of Trinidad and To­ba­go (UTT), Na­tion­al Acad­e­my for the Per­form­ing Arts (NA­PA) Cam­pus; the Cen­tre for Lan­guage Learn­ing (CLL), The Uni­ver­si­ty of the West In­dies (UWI), St Au­gus­tine Cam­pus; and the Na­tion­al Li­brary and In­for­ma­tion Sys­tems Au­thor­i­ty (NALIS) Port of Spain Li­brary. I hope to see many cit­i­zens vis­it­ing these events and ex­pe­ri­enc­ing this unique as­pect of Japan­ese cul­ture. Dur­ing 2024’s Year of Ex­change, joint cul­tur­al events be­tween Japan and Trinidad and To­ba­go are ex­pect­ed to be held, along with oth­er fea­tured Japan­ese cul­tur­al events.

The Caribbean coun­tries are friends and sin­cere­ly trust­ed part­ners with whom Japan has shared a long his­to­ry. To­day, when the very foun­da­tions of in­ter­na­tion­al or­der are un­der threat, I be­lieve that Japan and Trinidad and To­ba­go are part­ners that co­op­er­ate in var­i­ous ways to main­tain and strength­en the free and open in­ter­na­tion­al or­der based on the rule of law. Build­ing up­on the 60 years of progress in our re­la­tions, it is my sin­cere hope to see the fur­ther de­vel­op­ment and sol­i­dar­i­ty of our two coun­tries next year, as we ap­proach the 60th an­niver­sary of the es­tab­lish­ment of diplo­mat­ic re­la­tions be­tween Japan and Trinidad and To­ba­go.