<\/p>\n
You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here.<\/p>\n
JIMMY MOYAHA: Over the last couple of days the Foreign Minister of Japan, Minister Toshimitsu\u00a0Motegi, has been in South Africa finalising the latest Japanese financing loan to South Africa as part of our Just Energy Transition loans and Just Energy Transition relationships.<\/p>\n
The latest energy loan coming from Japan signals a deepening of relationships between South Africa and Japan. We are going to look at this in more detail with the ambassador at the Japanese embassy, Ambassador Fumio Shimizu.<\/p>\n
The ambassador joins me on the line now to see what we make of this. Ambassador Shimizu, thanks so much for taking the time. Lovely to have you on our show.<\/p>\n
Let\u2019s perhaps start our conversation with the significance of the visit by the foreign minister to South Africa. This is certainly the first occasion this has happened in recent times. I can imagine this is not going to be the last time.<\/p>\n
FUMIO SHIMIZU: Thank you for inviting me. Good evening.<\/p>\n
Now, from the 29th of April to the 6th of May Japanese Foreign Minister Mr\u00a0Motegi visited four African countries \u2013 namely Zambia, Angola, Kenya and South Africa.<\/p>\n
He stayed in South Africa on Monday the 4th of May and Tuesday the 5th of May this week.<\/p>\n
This visit has three main purposes. One purpose is to deepen cooperation with Africa, which is a major part of the Global South, whose voice has been growing in the international community.<\/p>\n
ADVERTISEMENT<\/p>\n
CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n
Another purpose is that this year is the 10th anniversary of the launch of Japan\u2019s Vision named \u2018Free and Open Indo-Pacific\u2019 or \u2018FOIP\u2019 in short. Our foreign minister would like to explain the evolution of this vision and explain Japan\u2019s diplomacy toward Africa.<\/p>\n
Strengthening economic relations is also a purpose of our foreign minister\u2019s visit to Africa, especially as Africa is rich in mineral resources.<\/p>\n
We would like to strengthen cooperation to build resilient supply chains which would be mutually beneficial.<\/p>\n
In South Africa on the 5th of May, Foreign Minister Motegi paid a courtesy call on His Excellency President Ramaphosa and held a Japan\/South Africa foreign ministers\u2019 meeting with Honourable Minister Mr Lamola.<\/p>\n
I attended both meetings and witnessed constructive discussions on strengthening bilateral cooperation. During the meetings Foreign Minister Motegi emphasised that South Africa is an important partner for Japan because the two countries share fundamental values and principles \u2013 such as freedom and the rule of law \u2013 which are the foundation of Japan\u2019s vision named the \u2018Free and Open Indo-Pacific\u2019.<\/p>\n
He also expressed that he wishes to strengthen cooperation with South Africa, both bilaterally and in international forums.<\/p>\n
In particular, Japan and South Africa agreed to further deepen cooperation in a wide range of areas. These include public-private corporations to strengthen supply-chain resilience for critical minerals, cooperation in South Africa\u2019s efforts toward decarbonisation and energy transition, and collaboration to promote investment in enhancing the business environment.<\/p>\n
JIMMY MOYAHA: Ambassador, can we look at that collaboration around energy and the energy transition? We know that alongside the foreign minister\u2019s visit there was an announcement of a financing deal structured between Japan and South Africa. We don\u2019t yet know the finalised specifics of this, but can you perhaps take us through the importance of the timing of the loan \u2013 and its part in these broader conversations?<\/p>\n
FUMIO SHIMIZU: Well, regarding the loan-type cooperation from Japan to South Africa last year, on the occasion of the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development [or in short TICAD 9] held last August in Japan, Japan announced the plan to provide the Energy Sector Programme Loan.<\/p>\n
This is a yen loan to support South Africa\u2019s energy transition. We are now in negotiations, and we would like to accelerate our negotiations to finalise this yen-type loan.<\/p>\n
ADVERTISEMENT:<\/p>\n
CONTINUE READING BELOW<\/p>\n
Before that, in November 2024, Japan also provided the financing of US$100\u00a0million to the Development Bank of Southern Africa through Jica \u2013 the Japan International Cooperation Agency.<\/p>\n
This financial support is intended to assist South Africa\u2019s efforts to achieve a stable electricity supply, and support South Africa\u2019s transition from dependence on coal-fired power generation to clean energy sources.<\/p>\n
JIMMY MOYAHA: Ambassador, before I let you go, can we look at the relationship between South Africa and Japan? Japan, from a business perspective, is arguably one of the countries in the world with the oldest heritage of businesses and business leaderships.<\/p>\n
This certainly means that South Africa as a young democracy has much it can learn from the Japanese economy, from the Japanese culture. Take us through how we\u2019re able to share in these values and lessons through this deepening of relationships.<\/p>\n
FUMIO SHIMIZU: Well, now Japan is South Africa\u2019s fifth-largest trading partner, as well as the seventh-largest investor in South Africa.<\/p>\n
And so in South Africa approximately 260 Japanese companies are working and producing materials and giving the opportunity of employment, and both the Japanese government and Japanese companies are putting emphasis upon human capacity development.<\/p>\n
So we are working here, and it is contributing to job opportunities, but also human capacity-building as well as technical transfer. We strongly hope that we can work together and strengthen our ties so that we can contribute to job creation, technical transfer and human capacity development.<\/p>\n
JIMMY MOYAHA: A deepening of relationships and a sharing of cultures and values \u2013 that is what we hope to gain from the latest visit by the Foreign Minister of Japan to South Africa.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re going to leave this conversation on that note. Thanks so much to the ambassador for Japan within South Africa at the Japanese Embassy, Ambassador Fumio Shimizu, who joined us to look at the latest visit by Japan and what it signals for South Africa and the African continent.<\/p>\n
#Japan #strengthens #energy #cooperation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
You can also listen to this podcast on iono.fm here. JIMMY MOYAHA: Over the last…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[4],"tags":[8929,526,3307,1121],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5786"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5786"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5786\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5786"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5786"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stock999.top\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5786"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}