SVG Attaché returns from Japanese training programme

Mozart Carr, an Attaché at the Permanent Mission of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations, recently returned from a one-week training programme in Japan. The programme, which was held December 6-14, was created by the Government of Japan and was part of an effort to strengthen existing bonds between Japan and CARICOM member states.{{more}}

Carr, an Administrative Cadet within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Commerce and Trade, is currently assigned to the Permanent Mission of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to the United Nations as an Attaché. He was joined in Japan by young diplomats from Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Belize, Grenada, St. Lucia, and the CARICOM Secretariat.

The training programme covered a number of specific issues at the forefront of multilateral diplomacy, many of which are of particular interest to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines. These issues included Japan’s position on climate change; atomic energy and nuclear waste; sustainable use of marine resources; nuclear disarmament; development assistance and the strengthening of relations with CARICOM member states in the areas of renewable energy and disaster relief, among others.

While in Japan, the young diplomats also had the opportunity to meet with the Hon. Shuji Kira, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan. The group also met with a female survivor of the August 6, 1945, atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima.

Later this year, the Government of Japan will host the Second Ministerial-Level Conference between CARICOM states and Japan to assess progress made since 2000 on issues of the environment, agriculture, fisheries, disasters, cultural exchange and development assistance.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Japan have developed a strong and treasured friendship since first establishing diplomatic relations in April 1980. Most recently, the Japanese government funded the construction of the EC$33 million Owia Fisheries Centre, which was opened in April 2009.