To use this site, please disable the ad blocking feature and reload the page.
This website uses cookies to collect information about your visit for purposes such as showing you personalized ads and content, and analyzing our website traffic. By clicking “Accept all,” you will allow the use of these cookies.
Users accessing this site from EEA countries and UK are unable to view this site without your consent. We apologize for any inconvenience caused.
Yomiuri Shimbun file photo Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi is surrounded by reporters as he enters the Prime Minister’s Office in Tokyo on June 15.
The Yomiuri Shimbun
1:00 JST, July 23, 2023
Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi plans to visit six Asian and African countries to strengthen cooperative ties with so-called Global South nations.
Speaking at a press conference Friday, Hayashi said the trip will take place from the end of this month into early August and include visits to India, Sri Lanka, Maldives, South Africa, Uganda and Ethiopia — all of which are deemed to be emerging and developing nations.
“To realize a free and open Indo-Pacific, we intend to strive even harder to strengthen ties with countries in southwest Asia and Africa,” Hayashi said.
While in India, Hayashi will meet with Prime Minister Narendra Modi, and is expected to deliver an address at the Japan-India Forum, with government officials and business leaders in attendance.
In economically unstable Sri Lanka, meanwhile, Hayashi will discuss the country’s debt problems.
Hayashi also aims to foster friendly ties with South Africa and Uganda — both of which are strongly pro-Russia — by deepening cooperation in the field of food security.
Hayashi’s trip will mark the first time for a sitting Japanese foreign minister to visit Uganda.
