HE Japanese ambassador to Yemen Times: If Yemens security situation keeps improving, we can expect inflow of more tourists as well as businessmen into Yemen. [Archives:2002/28/Interview]

INTERVIEWED BY
MOHAMMED KHIDHR
DEPUTY EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
YEMEN TIMES

With the typical modesty and courtesy the Japanese are renowned of, His Excellency the Japanese ambassador to Sanaa Masamitsu Oki received me at his office in the embassy building at the exact hour of our appointment for conducting an interview with his excellency. His modesty and transparency has facilitated the meeting and gave it an atmosphere of freedom to put on table whatever topic I wanted to discuss with him.
Mr Oki has been assuming his post in Yemen for more than a year during which he has been very active in following up the task of promoting the friendly relations between his country and Yemen in various political, economic, cultural and social areas. During a one hour interview I discussed with him many topics ranging from politics to economic and cultural matters having to do with cementing the friendly relations of the two countries. He has spoken in a friendly and frank way, pinpointing means and ways for developing the process of cooperation with Yemen at various levels.
I began my interview with a question on his most recent activities especially his most recent tour of some Yemeni governorates.
Q: Mr ambassador, you have been on a tour of some Yemeni governorates lately would you kindly tell us about objectives of that tour?
A: First of all, Yemen is a large country, on the map it doesnt look so large but 50% larger than Japan that means larger than many European countries and I noticed that Yemen is very diverse northern part of Yemen like Sanaa and southern part of Yemen like Aden and Hadramaut are very different. So if I am sitting at my desk in my embassy in Sanaa, I cannot understand this country. That is partly the reason Why I travel all over Yemen and I have already been to many governorates including Hadramaut, Socotra, Hodeida, Taiz, Ibb, Lahj , Aden and Dhamar. I see the situation in every governorate as different. And one of the reasons for visiting the governorates, apart from learning how people live and what kind of place it is, is how to assist the governorates in development.
Q: Have you visited some particular institutions where Japan offers assistance?
A: We are one of the top donors to this country. We feel Yemen needs a lot of assistance that covers many fields especially those that meet the requirements of basic human needs, like health, water supply and basic education. In the health sector the major assistance focuses on the support for the Tuberculosis Control Program and eradication of various diseases like polio. We also support the solid waste management project in Yemeni cities because solid waste directly affects health and environment. There is also an annual grant we extend to agriculture sector to procure agricultural machinery ,equipment and plant protection items that aim at increasing food production in Yemen.
We have another cooperation scheme called Grant for Grassroots Projects. This scheme is designed to support small-scale projects implemented by community-based societies, schools, hospitals and local councils. The policy of this scheme does not differ from that of our grant aid policy, focusing on basic human needs. Last year we implemented eleven projects under this scheme and we are very pleased that those projects were met with high appreciation of the targeted beneficiaries. While we visit those governorates, we can see more precisely what is the need of those governorates. Another reason to visit governorates is to strengthen the relationship, not only with the central government but also with governorates people, including politicians, businessmen and people connected with culture and media….
Q: Perhaps you are also keen to meet civil society organizations?
A: Yes, we also meet with civil society organizations. In the governorates I meet with various people and in this way we strengthen our relation between Yemen and Japan.
Q Japan and Yemen have a long-standing history of very friendly relations, we would be very glad to hear from you an account on beginnings and developments of Japanese- Yemeni relations.
A: Japan has enjoyed very strong relations with this country even when there had been two entities. Compared to some other countries, Japan has been a newcomer to Yemen. But always the relationship between Japan and Yemen have been good because we have no political problems and from the beginning we have been assisting in development of this country in both South Yemen and North Yemen. After the unification we have even stronger economic cooperation with Yemen.
Q: Do you remember the date or year when you opened your embassy in Yemen?
A: We opened our own embassy in North Yemen in 1989 and in South Yemen in 1990. Before that, in 1976, our embassy in Saudi Arabia began embassy function with North Yemen. In 1977, our embassy in Egypt began a function of the embassy in South Yemen.
Q: Could your excellency tell us in more detail on areas of Yemen-Japanese cooperation and future plans for consolidating them?
A: First of all we try to have more frequent exchanges with the people of Yemen. We need to develop relations in wider spectrum through exchange of visits. More Yemenis should visit Japan and more Japanese should visit Yemen. The successful visit of President Ali Abdullah Saleh to Japan three years ago gave a strong momentum to promote the good relations between the two countries. Keeping this momentum going serves the bilateral relations. Since the end of last year four high-ranking Yemeni officials made successful visits to Japan, namely H.E. Dr al-Qirbi, the minister of foreign affairs, H.E. Dr al- Ahmadi minister of fish wealth, H.E. Mr Sofan minister of planning and development and Mr al-Kohlani the mayor of Sanaa. We have been successful in this regard, but we want more.
Yemen is a strategic country in the Middle East, while Japan would like to continue contributing in world peace. We can deepen our political dialogue through exchange of visits of politicians, government officials and other high-ranking people. For example Mr Nabil Basha, vice -chairman of the committee of foreign relations of parliament visited Japan immediately after September 11 incidents of last year and explained the situation in Yemen which helped Japanese side to understand the Yemeni political and security position. Also when foreign minister Dr Qirbi went to Japan last March, he conducted a very fruitful political dialogue with the Japanese side. We encourage this kind of political dialogue at various levels. And probably, as I said before, economic cooperation is one of the most important areas of relations with Yemen. It is so because Yemen needs a lot of assistance, either financial or technical. They have been doing very well in economic reform, but as a large country they have a lot of needs, such as trade and investment. The trade volume between Japan and Yemen is quite big either way because we export cars, machinery and electronics from Japan, while we import petroleum and fish products. So this we have to encourage as one of our functions. Right now, however, Japans investment in Yemen is not so successful partly because Japanese economy is a bit stagnant right now and partly because the Yemeni side needs more infrastructure, human resources and publicity. Also there should be legal incentives and tax incentive. I think Japan has to become stronger in economy and also Yemen has to do her homework to attract more investments. Compared to neighboring countries like Saudi Arabia, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Yemen has to prove it is a more attractive market, otherwise it cannot bring more investment.
Q: Some people think perhaps one of the reasons of slowness in Japanese or other countries investment is attributed to the question of security.
A: That is a very important element. There are two aspects of security in this country; one is the image and the other is the real security. Many foreigners have an image that Yemen is not a safe place. However, when they come here they find what they heard was exaggerated. Therefore the press and media can contribute to improve the image of Yemen to the foreigners. In this context we highly appreciate the appointment of Mr Nasr Taha Mustafa as a government spokesman. I hope this will lead to the inflow of more foreign businessmen and tourists into the country.
The second aspect is the real security. Now the situation seems to have improved. Fortunately, no kidnapping has taken place since November of last year, also we have not witnessed major terrorism acts recently. So this is a good sign. I very much appreciate efforts of the government in this respect and also some tribal sheikhs who denounced such acts. If this continues, it is good, as security is an important factor. If Yemens security situation keeps improving, we can expect inflow of more tourists as well as more businessmen into Yemen. I heard that organized tours of Japanese tourists are expected to resume later in the year.
Q: As Japans ambassador to Yemen, what is your personal vision on further cementing both countries relations?
A: I think we are very happy with our existing, relations, however we can still strengthen our relationships and there are several areas we can make the effort. One is the political dialogue. We can promote high-level exchanges of visits like ministers, parliamentarians, and politicians so that we can exchange views. I think we have many views in common although you are in the Near East and we are in the Far East. I want to emphasize the cultural side as function of the embassy. As an embassy we would like to have more cultural understanding between Yemen and Japan because we both have very rich culture. Last January, a gathering was held in my residence, regarding the issue of Dialogue Among Civilizations. I learned through this gathering that Yemeni people admire Japanese people for the level of technology. But the Japanese culture is an unknown area for many Yemenis. So we need to make more efforts to know each other in the field of culture.
Q: Culture is the best medium for mutual understanding among peoples. What do you think of the idea of exchanging cultural weeks to be held in Yemen and Japan?
A: I think this is a very good idea. We are thinking about this and we would like to introduce Japanese culture in a more comprehensive way, as culture has many aspects.
Q: Cultural activities can be distributed over the course of a year. There many weeks of various cultural topics, such as sport, theatre, cinema, education and folklore. What do you think of this?
A: Yes, for example we are having the so-called Asian cinema week at the beginning of next August to show Japanese and other films. We are also thinking of many other cultural events during the course of the year. In addition Id like to inform you that there is the Yemeni-Japanese friendship society which is also undertaking the teaching of Japanese language. I d like to add that we can do more in press. This is very important; the TV programs and newspapers can tell all people about each other. So we would like to promote this. I think we can still make more efforts in many ways.
Q: How do you assess the Yemeni democratization experiment, and what are aspects of relationship between Japanese embassy and Yemeni civil society organizations in the democratization process?
A: First of all Yemen has been doing very well on its path for democratization in spite of so many difficulties it has had, such as the unification, the civil war and so on. In spite of those obstacles, Yemen has been very determined to democratize. Already we believe that Yemen has made progress, such as in areas of decentralization, parliamentary elections and local councils. Regarding human rights affairs, though there is more room for improvement, I think compared with many other countries surrounding Yemen, human rights issue is making progress. Female rights issue is also in the right direction. We encourage this. In 1998, during the presidential elections we helped by donating ballot boxes to all over Yemen. This is evidence that we appreciate and we want to cooperate in the democratization process.
We have cooperated with NGOs here because we have so-called grassroots assistance which penetrates into the general public who needs it, like the handicapped, street children, and we have been in contact with many NGOs in order to help in grassroots process.
Q: There are societies and institutions taking care of the handicapped, what are the aspects the Japanese embassy is contributing to develop care rendered to the handicapped here in Yemen?
A: We pay this section of the society considerable attention in an attempt to help them face the requirements of life in enabling them feel that they could be creative, self supporting and useful to their country. Apart from our large volume of assistance to the central government, we have extended many grants to institutions that take care of the handicapped, be they private or governmental institutions. Recently we assisted the blind people at the institute for development of the handicapped in Taiz by providing equipment for training the blind. We also assisted in furnishing the house of orphans with beds and other needs. In Sanaa we provided a bus for the handicapped ladies at the Challenge Association for Disable Women to transfer them from their houses to the training centre. We are ready to assist the handicapped people in Yemen.
Q: Back again to cooperation with Yemens media. How strong is your countrys relationship with Yemeni media men? Do you have certain ideas to promote this relationship?
A: I highly appreciate the role played by Yemeni media and journalists in highlighting developments that occur in many fields. The democratic process that Yemen is witnessing under leadership of president Saleh provides favorable circumstances to journalists to play even bigger role and to endeavor more efforts to upgrade awareness of the people towards many issues. I think our relationship with media is quite good. We invited three journalists from the Yemen Times to Japan. One of them is the late Dr Abdulaziz al-Saqqaf, former editor in chief of Yemen Times who visited Japan in 1998 and exchanged points of view with government officials and Japanese journalists. We will continue inviting mass media people to Japan. A Japanese TV team visited Yemen mainly to shoot films on Yemens natural landscape. The have already showed films in Japan about Kawkaban, Hadramaut, Sanaa and Socotra. I think we can do more because many Japanese people do not know much about Yemen, especially the beautiful landscape of Yemeni historical places like Shibam and Seyon.
Yemen TV can do the job. I hope there will be more coordination and cooperation between the two mass media organizations. Many people cannot read or write, therefore the TV can play a great role and, hoping that some Japanese drama films can be shown in Yemen to show Japanese culture and way of life. We have extended assistance to both Channel 1 in Sanaa and Channel 2 in Aden to procure modern equipment of several-million dollars to improve their broadcasting.
Q: In token of Yemen Times cooperation we would like to receive regularly press releases on your activities to be published in the newspaper.
A: yes, that is a good idea. We are ready and will try to send more press releases so that we can provide more information. Thank you for your suggestion.
Q: What are your excellencys impressions on Yemen, country and people during the time since you have assumed your post here?
A: I feel very comfortable in this country because I notice that the Yemeni people are very warm and hospitable. Traditionally, the Yemenis like the Japanese. Ive been all over Yemen and when I told them Im Japanese they open their minds, so thats very nice.
Ive been quite lucky in my work both at governmental and other levels. I receive very good cooperation from the Yemenis. However, I would like to have closer relationship between the two peoples. The way to do that is to bring more Japanese to Yemen as tourists. Japanese are enthusiastic travellers. Twenty million Japanese travel abroad every year. They are interested to know about the culture and natural beauty of Yemen. But so far there are two problems. One is related to security, the problem of image. It is, however, improving partly because of the efforts of the Yemeni side. There are, I have learnt, some groups which are coming later this year on a tour from Japan to Yemen. I hope that security continues improving in Yemen. As long as there is no kidnapping I can tell them to come.
Another problem is cleanliness. Yemen is a beautiful country with its mountains, green fields, and islands like Socotra. However, many people do not notice the value of the beauty of their country. They dont take care of it. They should be more aware and they have to preserve its beauty. It is a natural treasure. I have visited many places and I feel that many streets are dirty. People throw away garbage. I hope they will make more efforts to keep their country clean. I know that for example the governorate of Ibb and the city of Sanaa have achieved good results in cleaning up. So I hope other governorates will do the same. Japanese tourists like clean places. When they come here as tourists and find Yemen a clean place theyd like to come back. This is my advice as a friend of Yemen.

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