Message from consul-general of Japan in Karachi

I am very pleased to contribute my message to this column to celebrate His Majesty the Emperor Akihito's 84th Birthday. On December 23, 2017, His Majesty will be 84 years old. The Imperial House of Japan is one of the oldest monarchies in the world with the long history of about 2,700 years. And His Majesty the Emperor Akihito is the 125th Emperor of Japan, the latest in the oldest continuing line of hereditary monarchy in the world. Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress have traveled many countries promoting friendship and goodwill among different nations of the world. Their Majesties visited Pakistan in 1962 as then Crown Prince and Princess.
It should be noted that this year is a milestone to commemorate the 65th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Japan and Pakistan. We have successfully built and enjoyed our cordial relationships.
Japan has also had business relations with Pakistan for a long time. Japan had its presence in the region where were parts of current Pakistan even before the World War II. Also, at the time just after the World War when Karachi had been one of the major global cities all over the world, the Bank of Tokyo, the then biggest foreign exchange bank in Japan, opened its second overseas branch in Karachi after New York. Our business relations started and were cherished with importing cotton from this region and exporting machineries for Pakistan's textile industry from Japan.
In such a mutual relationship, we introduced ODA (Official Development Assistance) in 1954 and have extended the cooperation in various fields since then.
In 2014, the cumulative amount of Japan's technical cooperation reached 51 billion yen. While more than 5,000 Pakistani trainees had been received by Japan, above 1,700 Japanese experts had been sent to Pakistan for sharing the Japanese knowledge and experience.
The total amount of grant aid to Pakistan between 1970 and 2014 marked 259 billion yen. The Mother and Child Health Center and Islamabad Children Hospital are the renowned assets of grant aid cooperation.
Japan has also been supporting developments of infrastructure in Pakistan through Japanese ODA loans in areas such as transport and energy. The Indus Highway Project and Kohat tunnel Construction Project are especially significant symbols of friendship between the two countries. The total amount of Japanese ODA loans to Pakistan summed up to 980 billion yen in 2014.
In addition to that, Japan has a scheme called "Grant Assistance for Grassroots Human Security Project (GGP)" to support small-scale development projects to meet the basic human needs of the local people. Japan has granted more than 350 assistances to Pakistan through this scheme to date and the Consulate-General of Japan in Karachi has so far implemented 19 projects in the areas of health, sanitation, water supply and education since 2009. Since I came to Karachi as the Consul-General, we have had 4 GGP projects in Sindh such as "The Project for the Enhancement of Karachi Fire Brigade", "The Project for the Establishment of the Pediatric Intensive Care Unit in The Indus Hospital in Karachi" and "The Project for Construction of Two School Buildings for Primary and Secondary Education in Matiari, Hyderabad, Sindh Province".
Meanwhile, I would like to introduce the activities of the Consulate-General of Japan in 2017. Besides the Emperor's Birthday Reception on December 4, we organized "Japanese Calendar Exhibition", "Karate Workshop", "Japanese Language Contest", "Hamara Dosta" to celebrate the 65th anniversary of the diplomatic relationship with Pakistan-Japan Cultural Association (PJCA), Sindh, "Japan Fest 2017" with Koto and Shamisen Concert and various stage performances and activities by local Japanese pop culture groups, "Women's Self Defense Workshop" and "Japanese Film Festival", etc.
Furthermore, I would like to highlight the activities done by our Information and Culture Center (JICC) The JICC has a library, an exhibition hall and a reading room for Pakistani people to know more about Japan. We regularly organize various cultural events such as film shows, exhibitions, flower arrangement workshops, etc at the Center. We also issue "Japan Information Bulletin"three times a year to inform about frequent activities of our Embassy in Islamabad and of Consulate General of Japan in Karachi. We also have "Niponica", a magazine about Japanese culture and other publications available at the Center. The door of JICC is always open to welcome every Pakistani. I hope many people will visit JICC and utilize the facilities to know more about Japan.
In Karachi, we have many Japan-related organizations like PJCA, PJBF, Ikebana groups, Bonsai Association, Karate groups, Judo groups and Japanese pop culture groups, etc to which we are grateful for as they have always cooperated with us for enhancing friendly ties between Japan and Pakistan in various aspects.
Through this message I take the opportunity to renew the appreciation of the Japanese community for the hospitability of the Pakistani People. I wish the economic relations, cultural interchange and people-to-people exchange between Japan and Pakistan will be further promoted with cooperation of Pakistani people including Japan-related groups and I, as the Consul-General of Japan in Karachi, will make every effort to achieve these goals.