Above: Grenada (CJ Photo)

By the Caribbean Journal staff

A high-level delegation from Japan has arrived in Grenada to take part in the 15th Annual Ministerial Meeting on Sustainable Use of Living Marine Resources.

The meeting, which is being held this week at the Flamboyant Hotel and Villas, brings together fisheries officials from across the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States to discuss issues relating to management and development of fisheries.

The ultimate goal is to develop “policies and interventions that are necessary for the continued development of the fishing industry and the region’s people,” according to a statement from the government of Grenada.

The Japanese delegation includes Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, Takao Makino, Japans’ Ambassador to the OECS, Yoshimasa Tezuka and other top Japanese government officials.

Also on hand are representatives from OECS Member States including Antigua and Barbuda, Dominica, St Kitts and Nevis, St Lucia and St Vincent and the Grenadines, along with Suriname and Grenada.

Grenada Fisheries Minister Roland Bhola was set to deliver the feature address at the summit on Tuesday.

Building capacity in fisheries has been one of the major areas of bilateral cooperation between Japan and the countries of the Eastern Caribbean in recent years.