Japan invites Mugabe

A special envoy of Japanese Prime Minister, Mr Shinzo Abe, held talks with President Robert Mugabe at State House in Harare this Monday afternoon.

The special envoy, Mr Masaharu Kohno, accompanied by Japanese Ambassador to Zimbabwe, Mr Yoshi Hiraishi delivered a special message to President Mugabe, inviting him to the 6th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD) meeting to be held in Nairobi, Kenya at the end of August this year.

TICAD conferences were introduced by the Japanese government to promote and foster cooperation between the two sides and this is the first time the summit is being held in Africa.

The Japanese envoy also delivered a message on cooperation in the political arena, saying his country fully supports calls for the reform of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

Japan belongs to the G4 together with Brazil, Germany and India, countries that support each other's bids on having a permanent seat on the UNSC.

Their demand is based on the growth of their economic might in recent years.

The G4 countries are elected for two terms on the UNSC as non-permanent members by countries of their region.

Zimbabwe and Japan are cooperating partners in various areas of socio-economic development.