FEC

FEC hosted a welcome lunch for H.E. Mr. Pavlo Klimkin, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine at the Hotel New Otani Tokyo on March 3. Foreign Minister Klimkin visited Japan as a guest of the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. From Ukraine side 5 people attended including Ambassador Kharchenko and Mr. Dmytro Senik, Director, Department of the Secretariat of the Minister. From FEC side 6 people attended, including FEC President Matsuzawa, Mr. Saito,Vice Chairman of FEC. Honorary Advisor,Mizuho Financial Group, Inc., FEC Senior Managing Director Yushita and Mr. Seki, President, International Total Engineering Corporation (ITEC).

FEC promotes a wide range of private exchanges with Ukraine such as dispatch of the FEC mission, hosting welcome parties for the Prime Minister and the Supreme Council Chairman and holding lectures of the Ukrainian Ambassador to Japan.

At the beginning, FEC President Matsuzawa made a remark, ” Three days after the Great East Japan Earthquake, Ukraine kindly sent  blankets to Japan in a special flight. FEC delivered them to the affected areas in two nights. FEC was happy to receive a great deal of gratitude from the North East people and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In addition, Mr.Kulinich, former Ambassador of Ukraine to Japan,kindly arranged the dispatch of medical personnel from Ukraine in order to convey the painful Chernobyl experience to them. I would like to say heartfelt thanks to the good faith of everyone, and want to encourage the people of Ukraine who are striving to withstand the current hardship.”

In response, Minister Klimkin remarked, “At the time of the Great East Japan Earthquake, I would say that the Ukraine people seemed to share the heart with the Japanese since they experienced the Chernobyl accident. Currently Ukraine faces with tough economic conditions, however, I would like to ask you to visit Ukraine in order to talk with Ukraine people for understanding their needs.”  At the lunch, Minister Klimkin expressed his gratitude for the FEC’s support to develop the Ukraine-Japan relations and he stated a frank opinion about the conflict of Eastern Ukraine. There were active Q&As among the participants regarding the Foreign Minister’s  media interviews in Japan, Ukraine- Russia relations and the medical situation.