Martin Dinham visited Japan (04/11/2009)
Martin Dinham, Director General International from the Department for International Development (DFID) visited Tokyo from 26 - 27 October to discuss upcoming development priorities for Japan and the UK over the next year. In particular his visit focussed on the issues of Climate Finance and on accelerating progress on achieving the Millenium Development Goals (MDGs) in advance of the MDG review conference in New York September 2010.
Martin's calls included meetings with Mr Motohide Yoshikawa, Special Representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan; Ms Chinami Nishimura, Parliamentary Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs; and officials from the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Japan International Cooperation Agency. During the visit British Ambassador, David Warren hosted a breakfast with a cross section of MPs to discuss development and later a lunch for Madame Sadako Ogata, President of the Japan International Cooperation Agency. Martin also met with civil society representatives.
At the British Embassy on 26 October Martin delivered a speech entitled 'Poverty Reduction and Economic Recovery in an Interdependent World' and took questions from an audience of government officials, journalists, academics and representatives from civil society. Martin's speech outlined the British Government's priorities set out in DFID's recent White Paper "Eliminating World Poverty: Building our Common Future" detailing the UK's development objectives on climate change, growth, conflict and fragile countries and the role of International Institutions. He welcomed the Japanese Government's pledges on carbon dioxide emissions reductions and stressed the importance of making the most of the opportunity of the upcoming COP 15 meeting in Copenhagen in December to agree an international framework for tackling climate change.
Martin told his Japanese counterparts that he was pleased to be able to visit Japan at a time when the new Japanese government is considering its policies and the best way forward on development. He said "Japan and the UK both have a lot of common ground in their thinking on international development and I was delighted that so many of my interlocuters were enthusiastic about further strengthening UK-Japan exchange cooperation in this area. We look forward to keeping in close contact on a number of important issues on our common agenda."
