Greetings by Ambassador Hashimoto upon His Arrival to Iraq

Hello everyone!

I arrived in Baghdad on August 27 to take up the post of Ambassador of Japan to Iraq. I worked at the Embassy in Iraq as the Deputy Chief of Mission exactly 10 years ago, so this is my second time working here. 

My relation with Iraq runs deep. Back in the mid-1990s, I was Deputy Director of the division assigned to the Iraq file at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Also, in October 2004, I was responsible for organizing International Reconstruction Fund Facility for Iraq (IRFFI), Third Meeting of Donor Committee and Expanded Meeting (Tokyo Meeting), which was hosted by the Japanese Government. 

Last time I served here in Iraq from September 2008, the security situation after the war began to gradually improve with the U.S. combat forces starting to withdraw from June 2009, and maintaining the security of Iraq was in the hands of the Iraqi authority once again. At that time, in addition to supporting Iraq with grant aids and technical cooperation up to 1.7 billion USD, Japan began Yen Loan support in the fields of electricity, transportation, oil, irrigation, and so on, in order to support Iraq’s own efforts to rebuild the country. Then, we concluded Exchange of Notes on 12 Yen Loan projects (totaling approximately 2.43 billion USD) by May 2009. Such assistance was not limited to financing, but Japan also provided support in other ways, such as the utilization of Japanese companies' technology and the dispatch of the Self Defense Forces, which made Japan, with both its public and private sectors, stand close to each and every citizen of Iraq.

Although the Iraqi reconstruction had to be temporarily stalled by Daesh after that, the Iraqi Government and citizens united and dealt with this difficult situation with the support of the international community. Iraq is currently recovering the environment which makes it possible for the reconstruction to greatly advance again. We can say now that Iraq has a good opportunity to return to the path on which it has been working since 2003, overcome the existing challenges and complete the postwar reconstruction.

From the beginning, the Japanese Government supported the efforts of the Iraqi Government and people towards building a rich and safe democratic country through the implementation of Yen Loan projects for infrastructure reconstruction and humanitarian and stabilization assistance. This will continue whomever the ambassador may be. Based upon the achievements of the previous ambassadors, and with the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the Japan – Iraq diplomatic relations next year in 2019 in mind, I also would like to continue the efforts to further expand our bilateral relations, not only through the development cooperation mentioned earlier but also through cooperation in a wide range of fields such as politics, culture, and economy. Therefore, I hope that the Iraqi Government and the Iraqi people would lend their kind support to us.
 
Ambassador of Japan to Iraq
Naofumi Hashimoto