Kishida offers Mohadi Japan's support to help Zimb...

Kishida offers Mohadi Japan's support to help Zimbabwe realise its potential

Fumio Kishida, Japan's prime minister, right, greets Kembo Mohadi, former vice president of Zimbabwe, before their meeting at Akasaka Palace state guest house in Tokyo, Japan, on Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2022.Kiyoshi Ota - pool, Pool Bloomberg

Mr. KISHIDA Fumio, Prime Minister of Japan, has said that he wishes to improve the excellent diplomatic relations established by his late predecessor Mr Abe Shinzo, and support Zimbabwe to realise its full potential.

PM Kishida said this today when he received a courtesy call from ZANU-PF vice president and former Vice President of Zimbabwe, Kembo Mohadi, who is in Japan to attend the state funeral for former PM Abe Shinzo.

The state funeral comes as a special honour after the former PM had a private funeral held for him in Tokyo when he passed away two and a half months ago.

PM Kishida expressed his gratitude to Mohadi for his attendance at the funeral and stated that he wished to further develop excellent diplomatic relation established under former PM Abe.

Prime Minister Kishida spoke of his willingness to assist Zimbabwe, which has abundant mineral resources so that it can realize its potential.

He also stated his expectation that the presidential election scheduled for next year will be conducted peacefully and that democratization will make further progress.

Mohadi expressed his appreciation for Japan's support for Zimbabwe and his expectation for Japan’s further support.

Both sides exchanged views on international issues such as the situation in Ukraine, and confirmed the importance of cooperation.

PM Kishida touched on the importance of strengthening food security, with both sides committing to cooperation on this issue. They also agreed to work for further development of bilateral relations, following up on the outcome of TICAD 8.