Japanese foreign minister is due in Havana this week

Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida arrives in Havana on Thursday (April 30) for a four-day visit to strengthen diplomatic and commercial ties with Cuba.

He will be the first Japanese foreign minister to visit the island since the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1929.

According to the newspaper The Japan Times, the government and businesses in Japan are looking to cultivate the Cuban market, which has remained virtually closed to foreign investment for over half a century due to U.S. economic sanctions, now that momentum is building for the restoration of U.S.-Cuba diplomatic ties.

With the effects of the rapprochement already becoming visible, Japan is taking a stronger interest in Cuba, the newspaper says.

The aim is to encourage Japanese firms to enter into the Cuban market, and to expand exports of Japanese products such as medical equipment. Tokyo is also hoping to utilize Japanese technologies to introduce renewable energy in Cuba.

The trip is the result of last month’s visit to Japan by Ricardo Cabrisas Ruiz, vice president of the Cuban Council of Ministers and former Ambassador to Japan, who met with Kishida and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe.

According to the Japanese Foreign Ministry, at the March 9 meeting, Kishida said that he would like to continue to enhance the relationship with Cuba in a wide range of areas “and to hold candid discussions in light of the 400th anniversary of the landing of the Japanese Keicho Mission in Cuba, which marked the beginning of exchanges between Japan and Cuba.”

Kishida was referring to a diplomatic mission sent by Japan to the New World in 1613, which paid a weeklong visit to Cuba in July 1614. It was led by a 43-year-old samurai, Hasekura Tsunenaga.

The Foreign Ministry account says that, at the meeting, Cabrisas “explained the revision of the Foreign Investment Law in Cuba, described the Special Economic Development Zone of Mariel and stated that he expected an enhancement of economic relations between the two countries through exchanges of opinions with Japanese enterprises.”

At a March 12 meeting with Prime Minister Abe, the Japanese leader “welcomed the commencement of dialogue between the U.S. and Cuba, and stated that Japan would consider general grant aid in light of factors such as changes in the international situation surrounding Cuba and progress with the bilateral relationship.”

According to the Japanese government, in 2013 Cuba exported $12.39 million worth of merchandise to Japan (fish, tobacco, medical products, coffee,) and imported $25.75 million worth of merchandise from Japan (machinery, electrical machinery, precision instruments.)

The Prime Minister’s office quoted Abe as saying that he “would like to strengthen the relationship in wide-ranging areas, through mutual visits of Foreign Ministers and other cabinet members as well as people-to-people exchanges between Japan and Cuba.”

For background in Progreso Weekly on relations between Cuba and Japan, click here.

[Photo at top of Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida and Ricardo Cabrisas in Tokyo on March 9.]