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Tag: Shinzo Abe

  • Buhari condoles with Japan over landslide deaths

    President Muhammadu Buhari on Thursday commiserated with the Government and people of Japan over the loss of lives and property following a heavy downpour that resulted in flooding and landslides.

    Malam Garba Shehu, the President’s Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, in a statement in Abuja on Thursday, said Buhari’s condolence message was contained in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister of Japan, Shinzo Abe.

    President Buhari, who described the tragedy as an “unprecedented weather disaster’’, said the government and people of Nigeria extended their sympathy and prayers for the Japanese as they surmount the fall out of the sad incident.

    Read Also: Buhari lauds Nigeria’s educational ties with Belarus

    President Buhari said: “On behalf of the government and the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, I write to commiserate with the Government and people of Japan, following last week’s torrential rain that caused floods and subsequent landslides in Western Japan, killing over 176 and forcing millions to evacuate their homes while dozens remain missing.

    “It is indeed sad that the unprecedented weather disaster, the worst since 1982, has caused massive destruction to livelihood in the flood stricken areas.

    “Our thoughts and sympathy are with the distressed population and indeed the entire people of your country during this period of national grief.’’

    President Buhari expressed the hope that the government and people of Japan would quickly recover from the tragedy and show resilience while embarking on the rebuilding process.

  • Japan’s Abe to cancel Iran trip over U.S. pressure on Tehran- Kyodo

    Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has given up on a plan to visit Iran this summer, local media said on Wednesday, as U.S. President Donald Trump has taken an increasingly tough line against Tehran.

    “The visit to Iran would have been the first by a Japanese leader in 40 years, forming part of Abe’s scheduled tour through the Middle East from July 11.

    “But Japan has told Iran Abe would not be able to visit its capital, Tehran, in spite of arrangements it had been making for talks with President Hassan Rouhani,’’ the agency added, citing government sources.

    However, Motosada Matano, a spokesman for the Japanese prime minister’s office, told newsmen nothing had been decided about Abe’s overseas travel plans.

    Read Also: Japan’s PM Abe meets Trump, says confident can build trust

    The decision not to visit Iran was made in light of Trump’s push to isolate Tehran and choke off its oil exports, after he pulled the U.S. out of the 2015 Iran nuclear pact in May.

    The U.S. has urged Japan and its other allies to stop buying Iranian crude oil entirely by Nov. 4.

    “Japan has traditionally had stable ties with Iran, on which it relied for decades as a key source of oil.

    “That’s why it has told the Trump administration it cannot further cut or halt crude imports from the country, for fear of risks to its economy,’’ it added.

  • Japan pledges $30bn support for Africa

    Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told African leaders on Saturday that his country will commit $30 billion in public and private support for infrastructure development on the continent.

    Resource-poor Japan has long been interested in tapping Africa’s vast natural resources, even more so since dependence on oil and natural gas imports jumped after the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster shut almost all of Japan’s nuclear reactors, Reuters reported.

    Abe, in the Kenyan capital Nairobi to attend the sixth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD), said the package would be spread over three years from this year and include $10 billion for infrastructural projects on the continent, to be executed through cooperation with the African Development Bank.

    “When combined with investment from the private sector, I expect that the total will amount to $30 billion. This is an investment that has faith in Africa’s future, an investment for Japan and Africa to grow together,” he told a gathering of more than 30 heads of state and government from across Africa.

    The $30 billion announced on Saturday is in addition to $32 billion that Japan pledged to Africa over a five-year period at the last TICAD meeting in 2013.

    Abe said 67 percent of that had already been put to use in various projects.

     

  • Memory of Hiroshima attack must never fade – Obama

    Memory of Hiroshima attack must never fade – Obama

    Barack Obama has become the first serving United States president to visit Hiroshima since the World War Two nuclear attack.

    Mr. Obama said the memory of August 6, 1945 must never fade, but did not apologise for the U.S attack – the world’s first nuclear bombing.

    The U.S leader spoke to a number of survivors and in an address called on nations to pursue a world without nuclear weapons, the BBC reports.

    At least 140,000 people died in Hiroshima and another 74,000 two days later in a second bombing in Nagasaki.

    Mr. Obama first visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum before walking to the Peace Memorial Park, accompanied by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Both men stood in front of the eternal flame.

    Mr. Obama laid a wreath first, followed by Mr. Abe.

    The U.S President had earlier flown into the nearby Iwakuni Marine Corp base nearby, after leaving the G7 summit.

    Mr. Obama told service personnel at the base: “This is an opportunity to honour the memory of all who were lost during World War Two.

    “It’s a chance to reaffirm our commitment to pursuing the peace and security of a [world] where nuclear weapons would no longer be necessary.”

     

  • Japanese vote in Abe’s ‘snap election’

    Japanese vote in Abe’s ‘snap election’

    Millions of Japanese people are voting in a snap election called by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to boost support for his economic reforms.

    The BBC reports that voters will be choosing who sits in the 475-seat lower house of Japan’s parliament, the Diet.

    Recent surveys showed that Mr. Abe’s coalition is likely to win a majority, although his popularity has dipped.

    Mr. Abe was elected in 2012 and has tried to revive the economy by raising public spending and printing money.

    After an initial burst of growth, Japan slipped back into recession in the second half of this year.

    Japan is the third-largest economy in the world, according to the World Bank, but it has struggled in recent years.

    However, Mr. Abe has insisted that his policies, known as “Abenomics,” can get Japan back on track.

    “I promise to make Japan a country that can shine again at the centre of the world,” he said in a recent campaign speech.

    He has vowed to help more Japanese women enter and remain in employment by tightening anti-discrimination laws and setting employment targets.

    He has also promised to amend the law to allow the Japanese military to engage in collective self-defence alongside allies who are threatened.

  • Japan to partner ECOWAS on peace, security

    Japan to partner ECOWAS on peace, security

    The Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, on Friday in Abidjan, said Japan would partner with West African leaders to promote peace and security in the sub-region through dialogue.
    Abe, who spoke at the opening of a meeting with ECOWAS Heads of Government, said promoting peace and security in the sub-region would give fillip to economic activities and boost development.
    He said the need to promote peace and security in West Africa had become crucial due to its strategic place in global economy.
    Abe added that Japan, being a long standing friend to many countries in the sub-region, would continue to engage in issues that would promote economic development.
    The prime minister said Japan was ready to mobilise massive investments in the sub-region to boost its economic fortune.
    He noted that “Japan is ready to cooperate with governments in the West African sub-region toward facilitating Japanese investments.
    “We will encourage our investors to invest in opportunities in the countries in the region.’’
    In his address, the Chairman of ECOWAS Heads of Government, President Alassane Ouattara of Cote D’ivoire, said West Africa was blessed with investment opportunities capable of triggering sustainable economic developments.
    Ouattara said ECOWAS member states were ready to work with Japan toward deepening economic integration and cooperation that would be mutually beneficial.
    “ECOWAS member states see Japan’s interest in the sub-region as a welcome development. It is our hope that we will enjoy mutually-beneficial relationship,’’ Ouattara said.
    The News Agency of Nigeria reports that Abe’s visit was the first from a Japanese Head of Government to Africa in the past eight years.
    The prime minister’s decision to visit Africa was taken in June 2013 at the Africa-Japan Summit in Tokyo.

  • Jonathan, ECOWAS leaders meet Japanese PM in Abidjan

    Jonathan, ECOWAS leaders meet Japanese PM in Abidjan

    President Goodluck Jonathan will travel to Abidjan, Cote D’Ivoire, on Friday afternoon to attend a meeting of ECOWAS Heads of State and Government.

    A statement issued by his media aide, Dr. Reuben Abati, said President Jonathan and other ECOWAS Heads of State and Government are scheduled to confer with the Japanese Prime Minister, Mr. Shinzo Abe, who will also arrive in the Ivorian capital on Friday at the head of a high-powered Japanese Trade Mission targeting expanded business opportunities in Africa.

    Mr. Abe’s meeting with President Jonathan and other ECOWAS leaders is a follow-up to the Fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V) held in June last year which discussed trade, investment, peace and stability in Africa.

    The Japanese PM’s talks with ECOWAS Heads of State and Government are expected to boost economic cooperation between Japan and countries in the sub-region.

    President Jonathan, who is due back in Abuja on Saturday, will be accompanied on the trip by the Minister of Works, Mr. Mike Onolememen, the Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Dr. Nurudeen Mohammed and his Chief Economic Adviser, Dr. Nwanze Okidigbe.

     

  • Fashola named among 100 top global thinkers

    Fashola named among 100 top global thinkers

    Lagos State Governor, Babatunde Fashola (SAN), was at the weekend named with other global personalities like Pope Francis of the Vatican; Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, and Mayor of Warsaw Poland, Hanna Gronkiewicz-waltz as 100 Top Global Thinkers for 2013. The rating was conducted by a global personality assessment organisation, Lo Spazio della Politica (LSDP).

    Lo Spazio della Politica, which is based in Italy and Brussels, is an independent Think Tank fashioned after the prestigious Foreign Policy (FP).

    It lists personalities, organisations and institutions that have made significant impact on the lives of people as well as objects, research projects and public policies which have inspired thinking globally.

    It is founded by young Italian scientists and scholars.

    In its list titled “The LSDP Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2013,” the organisation said it included Fashola “because he made Lagos an African hub of innovation, launching the Lagos Innovation Advisory Council, with the help of the Harvard Kennedy School”.

    Fashola has, in the last seven years, received numerous local and international awards as well as recognitions by prestigious global bodies for his innovative and people-oriented leadership.

    Such awards include the 2009 Good Governance Award from the United Kingdom-based African Business Magazine, 2010 Award for Excellence in Leadership of the Martin Luther King Jnr. Foundation.

    His dogged pursuit of renewal of the infrastructure of Lagos as the critical strategy for economic growth and poverty alleviation has also won the state honours from far- away as Australia for undertaking the fastest infrastructure renewal ever in Africa.

    The organisation named Pope Francis as number one “because he reminded the world that the Catholic Church is a Global Power.”

    It placed the Japanese Prime Minister, Shinzo Abe, 31 on its list “because 2013, for better and for worse, has been the year of Abenomics.”

    The organisation stated that the list emphasises mostly political leaders, scientists, businessmen, academics and intellectuals even as it tries to balance the geographical representation between Europe, the United States, Africa and other continents adding, however, that the balance varies on yearly basis.

    The President of South Korea, Park Geun-Hye, was also listed “because she has created a Ministry of Science and Future” while Nigeria’s Adefunke Ekine, Fellow, Echidna Global Scholars Nigeria, got on the list “for her experience in teaching and directing schools in Africa in particular for the promotion of science among female students.”

    Three women, Jenet Yellen, Elvira Nabiullina and Karnit Flug from the United States, Russia and Israel respectively, took the second position in the list “because they showed that the Central Bankers’ Club is not ‘Men Only’ anymore while Brazilian Scientist, Ruth Nussenzweig, made the third position in the list “for her research on malaria and her will to work again with her husband in Brazil at the age of 85.”

    Also included in the list are Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands and King Albert 11 of Belgium, “for their role as Monarch innovators in Europe,” the famous Japanese Film Director, Hayao Miyazaki, “because he keeps making adults and children dream even in the years of his retirement.”

    There was also Bill Maris, the Managing Director of Google Ventures, United States, “because he was the first to use a quantitative and algorithmic approach in the field of venture capital.”

  • Tokyo wins race to host 2020 Olympics

    Tokyo wins race to host 2020 Olympics

    Tokyo has been chosen to host the 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games ahead of Istanbul and Madrid.

    The Japanese capital won a final round of voting by International Olympic Committee (IOC) members in Buenos Aires to beat Istanbul by 60 votes to 36.

    Madrid had earlier been eliminated in a first-round ballot.

    BBC reports that the announcement was met with jubilant scenes in Japan, as Tokyo prepares to host the event for the first time since 1964.

    When IOC president Jacques Rogge – who will retire after 12 years in the role on Tuesday – announced the winning city, the Tokyo delegation jumped to their feet in celebration and waved the Japan flag.

    A number of them were overcome with emotion and wept, following two years of intense lobbying.

    “I would like to thank everyone in the Olympic movement and we will host a wonderful Olympic Games,” a delighted Prime Minster Shinzo Abe said.

    Bid leader Tsunekazu Takeda added: “It is a great honour that Tokyo has been chosen. The first thing I will do when I return is to thank all of Japan.”