Ambassador Tadamichi Yamamoto calls on the President

Islamabad,
30 September 2010: Newly designate Japanese Special
Representative for Pakistan and Afghanistan
Ambassador Tadamichi Yamamoto called on President
Asif Ali Zardari at Aiwan-e-Sadr today.

Japanese Ambassador in
Pakistan Mr. Chihiro Atsumi and Mr. Yasushi Nakagawa
were accompanying the Ambassador. Ms. Hina Rabbani
Khar, Nawabzada Malik Amad Khan, Senator Sughra Imam
and Foreign Secretary Mr. Salman Bashir were also
present besides other senior officials.

Matters relating to
Pak-Japan bilateral relations, mutual cooperation in
various areas including trade and the regional
situation were discussed during the meeting.

The President
appreciated the Japanese flood relief assistance for
the flood stricken people of Pakistan. He also
thanked the Japanese government for their active
support and pro-active involvement at FoDP Forum and
the Donors Conference.

The President said that
Pakistan attached great importance to its friendly
equation with Japan and regards it as an important
friend and development partner. He said that the
mutual existing cooperation needs to be further
enhanced with special focus on trade, development,
security, energy and institution building. He said
that the trade volume amounting to US $ 1.6 billion
between the two countries needs to further expanded.

The President said that
Pakistan is keen on upgrading railway line between
Pakistan and Turkey for the speedy movement of
cargo. He said that he had already proposed to the
Turkish leadership the need for upgrading the
existing railway line. Even last night he had
telephoned Turkish President Mr. Abdullah Gul and
suggested that the proposed project needs to be
evaluated urgently, he said.

The President said that
Japanese entrepreneurs could consider participation
in building upgraded railway line for which finances
could be raised through stock exchanges in three
countries of Japan, Pakistan and Turkey.

Welcoming the modest
upward trend in Japanese investment in Pakistan over
last three years, the President said that Special
Economic Zones exclusively for the Japanese
investors were being established to facilitate them.
The President said that Japanese investors would be
welcome to invest in SEZs especially in energy,
manufacturing and agro-industry.

He said that Pakistan
greatly values Japanese development assistance in
economic and infrastructural development and
Japanese support in the area of capacity building
would be welcomed.

Discussing regional
situation, the President appreciated constructive
role of Japan in the global and Asian affairs and
said that Pakistan views Japan as an important
player for peace, progress, cooperation and
stability in the world.

He said that Pakistan
desires stability, peace and development in the
region and has always supported every effort of the
international community in this regard. He said that
Pakistan has always called upon the international
community to focus on creating windows of
opportunities for the people of the region who are
affected by the menace of terrorism in order to
address the issue effectively on one hand and to
promote socio-economic development on the other.

The President specially
drew attention towards drug menace in the region and
said that it was critical to check narco trade
which, he said, was the main source of funding of
the militants. He said that Pakistan has always
advocated an integrated approach to be adopted by
the international community ranging from promoting
alternative livelihood and agriculture development
to eradication of drugs to counter militancy.

Ambassador Tadamichi
Yamamoto condoled to the President the losses due to
devastating floods and said that Japan will strongly
support in the flood relief and recovery measures.