Taoiseach Micheál Martin will offer Ireland’s condolences to Japan on Wednesday when he meets prime minister Fumio Kishida following the murder of his predecessor Shinzo Abe.
During a two-day visit starting on Tuesday, Mr Martin will also discuss growing trade and investment ties and turn the sod on the foundation of Ireland House, the State’s largest-ever capital investment abroad.
The €23 million construction project in central Tokyo will be Ireland’s “showcase platform” in the world’s third-largest economy, said Irish Ambassador Paul Kavanagh. Housing a new embassy, as well as IDA, Enterprise Ireland and Bord Bia offices, the building is due to be finished in 2024
The two leaders will sign a joint statement outlining what Mr Kavanagh calls one of the most comprehensive omnibus agreements between Japan and an EU state.
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“The statement aims to take ties to a new level,” said the Ambassador.
Ireland had a €10 billion trade surplus in goods and services with Japan in 2020, the largest in Asia. Bilateral trade is worth about €16 billion a year. With the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic easing, business leaders are optimistic about growth following the 2019 Japan-EU Economic Partnership Agreement, which has dramatically cut tariffs.
Irish companies in Japan employ more than 2,000 people. About 7,000 are employed in Ireland by 38 Japanese companies, including Takeda, the largest pharmaceuticals company in Asia. Employment-wise, Japan is Ireland’s most important source of direct investment from the Asia/Pacific.
Business leaders
Mr Martin is scheduled to meet business leaders, including the bosses of Sumitomo and Mitsubishi, two of Japan’s largest corporations, at a reception in Tokyo which will feature poetry and a performance by young Japanese céilidh musicians led by Kozo Toyota, who has performed at the All-Ireland Fleadh Cheoil.
Officials say the building of Ireland House will leverage the Republic’s presence in Japan and ultimately pay for itself. The Department of Foreign Affairs spends over €1 million annually renting premises in Tokyo for its agencies and staff. The spending caused controversy in 2016 when it was revealed that the price tag included €46,000 a month to rent an apartment for the ambassador.
Japan has been one of the priciest locations for Ireland’s roughly 80 embassies. The Ireland House format, housing cultural attractions and the State’s various agencies under one roof, is likely to be a foreign template for the department’s plan to double Ireland’s global footprint by 2025 and add 26 embassies and diplomatic missions.
The joint statement by Mr Martin and Mr Kishida will also condemn Russia’s military aggression in Ukraine, and demand that those responsible for atrocities perpetrated by Russian forces be held accountable and brought to justice.
Mr Martin arrives as Japan continues to mourn the death of its longest-serving prime minister, who was killed by a lone gunman while campaigning on July 9th. In 2013, Mr Abe became the first Japanese leader to visit Dublin, where he met then taoiseach Enda Kenny after attending a G8 Summit in Co Fermanagh.
The Taoiseach will leave Tokyo on Thursday morning for Singapore, where he is due to meet prime minister Lee Hsien Loong.
