Japanese Ambassador-Designate Pays Courtesy Call On the Secretary of Foreign Affairs

Secretary of Foreign Affairs Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. welcomes Japanese Ambassador-Designate Koshikawa Kazuhiko to the Department of Foreign Affairs with an elbow bump (Photo by DFA-OSCR Philip Fernandez).

PASAY CITY 15 December 2020 — Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro L. Locsin, Jr. formally welcomed newly arrived Ambassador-Designate of Japan to the Philippines Koshikawa Kazuhiko during a courtesy call on 10 December 2020 at the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Secretary Locsin shared his high hopes for the continued upward trajectory of Philippine-Japan relations across a broad range of cooperation areas, including security, infrastructure, trade and investment, space cooperation, and information and technology. 

“The President calls Japan ‘closer than a brother’,” the Secretary recalled, and extolled the “cordial, expansive and active” Strategic Partnership and overall ties between the two countries, which will culminate in 65 years of normalized relations in 2021.

Ambassador-Designate Koshikawa likewise affirmed the strong bilateral relationship, remarking that the “golden age” of relations could soon enter the “platinum age.”

Before the call, the Ambassador-Designate presented an open copy of his credentials to Chief of Protocol Porfirio M. Mayo, Jr., and paid a courtesy call on Assistant Secretary for Asian and Pacific Affairs Meynardo LB. Montealegre.

Prior to taking up his post in Manila, the Ambassador-Designate was a senior official at the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA). He was formerly Japan’s Ambassador to Spain and Angola. END