Above: Ambassador Yoshimasa Tezuka and SG Irwin LaRocque (Photo: CARICOM)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

New Japanese Ambassador to CARICOM Yoshimasa Tezuka presented his credentials to CARICOM Secretary General Irwin LaRocque this week, pledging to “do his best” to “provide all possible means for the development of CARICOM countries.”

The Japanese envoy said he would “vigorously” follow up on the outcome of the CARICOM-Japan Public-Private Joint Economic Mission, which was held in Trinidad last fall.

The Japanese delegation to that forum included a number of the country’s most successful companies, including Mitsubishi, Fujitsu and Hitachi, as well as public sector entities like the Japan Bank of International Cooperation and the Japan Oil, Gas and Metal National Corporation.

Ambassador Tezuka said he anticipated that the upcoming Fifteenth CARICOM-Japan Consultation, which is scheduled for July 23 in Guyana, would further strengthen ties between the two parties.