H.E. Mr Takashi Osanai visited President of Latvia Valdis Zatlers on Tuesday, March 17, to present his accreditation papers as Japan's new ambassador extraordinary and plenipotentiary to the Republic of Latvia. He will be the first Japanese ambassador to reside in Latvia.
After congratulating the ambassador on his new post, the President expressed his pleasure at more intensified dialogue between Latvia and Japan over the last few years. President Zatlers particularly emphasised high-level exchanges of visits, including a visit to Latvia by the emperor and empress of Japan, and a visit to Japan by the speaker of the Latvian Parliament, as well as by the prime minister. The President also welcomed co-operation between the two countries in such areas as culture, education, tourism, science, sports and partnership among cities.
During their meeting, President Zatlers and Ambassador Osanai also discussed opportunities for economic partnership between the two countries, focusing in particular on machinery building, transit, logistics, pharmaceutics, the timber industry and tourism. In the area of international relations, the President thanked his guest for Japan's financing of developmental projects in Afghanistan, noting that Latvia joins other NATO member states in very much welcoming Japan's major investment in that country.
H.E. Takashi Osanai was born in Japan in 1948 and is a 1974 graduate of the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Hitotsubashi. He joined Japan's foreign service in 1976 and has been posted to the Foreign Ministry, Japan's embassy at the United Nations and Japan's embassy to the USSR. He has served as an advisor to Japan's embassy in Russia (1992 and again 2002) and to the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (1993). He served as Japan's consul general in Khabarovsk (2004) and, from 2007, has been a senior researcher at the Japanese Institute of International Relations.
President's Chancery
