Ambassador of Japan to the Pacific Region Meets With FSM President, Peter Christian

PALIKIR, Pohnpei—On December 7th, 2018 His Excellency Toshihisa Takata, Ambassador of Japan to the Pacific Region, met with His Excellency President Peter M. Christian in a courtesy call visit.

“I’m very honored to be here today,” said Ambassador Takata, “This is our first official mission to the Pacific Island Region.” Ambassador Takata expressed his sincere congratulations to President Christian for the 30 years of formal diplomatic relations between our two countries, to which the President opined “Our formal relationship as countries has been for 30 years, but our people to people relationship goes back over 100 years…and we’re very happy about that.”

President Christian and Ambassador Takata spoke together about a range of issues of mutual importance and interest to our countries, with particular emphasis on economic growth and regional security issues. Both President Christian and Ambassador Takata shared their hopes that world become a more peaceful place.

Ambassador Takata was recently appointed as Special Assistant to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Ambassador for the Pacific Island Region, which is a newly created position in the Oceania Division, for the purpose of strengthening communications and networks with Pacific Island countries.

Previously assigned to New Zealand, Samoa, and the Cook Islands, Ambassador Takata has nearly 43 years of diplomatic experience. Ambassador Takata will be working closely with His Excellency Ryoichi Horie, Resident Ambassador of the Government of Japan to the Federated States of Micronesia, as well as our own FSM Department of Foreign Affairs, with his focus targeting the broader Pacific Region’s needs.