DAVAO CITY, Feb. 11 (PIA)- The Consulate General of Japan was formally opened here in Davao City with no less than Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono attending the ceremony.
The Consulate General will now include visa operations aimed at Mindanaoans wishing to visit Japan. The upgrading of the consulate to consulate-general status started last Jan. 5, this year. It covers the 27 provinces and 33 cities of Mindanao.
Foreign Minister Kono during his speech at the reception said the consulate general is a way to deepen the friendship of Japan and the Philippines. Kono recalled that during the 1920s Japan had a consulate in Davao.
“The Japanese community here was the largest in Asia at that time with 20,000 Japanese living here so in 1920 a consular office was opened the first chief of the office was a man by the name of Mikhael Shibasaki,” Kono said.
High ranking officials from Japan and the Philippines were the main guests in the reception ceremony held at the Waterfront Insular Davao. Aside from Minister Kono, the main guests included Kono’s Philippine counterpart Foreign Affairs Secretary Teodoro Locsin Jr., Japanese Ambassador to the Philippines Koji Haneda, Executive Secretary Salvador Medialdea and Davao City Mayor Sara Dutere.
One of the guests was Moro Islamic Liberation Front chairman Al Haj Murad. It can be recalled that Japan is one of the countries strongly supporting the peace process in Mindanao.
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