The Prime Minister of Japan Shinzo Abe has requested for Uganda’s support for Japans bid for a seat on the UN Security Council and cooperation in reform of the Security Council.
Japan is campaigning alongside Germany, France and India to become permanent members of a reformed and enlarged UN Security Council
He also called for Uganda’s support for the Japans’ candidate for judge of the International Court of Justice.
The Government of Japan is supporting the candidacy of Dr. Yuji Iwasawa, incumbent Judge of the ICJ, for re-election as judge of the ICJ.
According to a Uganda Presidential press Unit news release this was in a bilateral meeting held at the Intercontinental Hotel Yokohama Grand Hotel in Yokohama Japan between Uganda’s president Museveni and PM Abe on the sidelines of the TICAD7 conference.
According to the statement Japan also agreed to seriously consider the candidature of Uganda’s Justice Julia Ssebutinde on the International Court of Justice on reciprocal basis.
Justice Julia Sebutinde is vying for the second term for the coveted slot of judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Justice Sebutinde was first elected to the judicial seat in 2011 as the choice for Africa, becoming the first African woman to sit on the court.
Her first stint runs up to 2021, but elections for the judicial seat are scheduled for September next year.
Rwanda has fronted a candidate to challenge justice Sebutinde for the African slot at the Hague based court.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe thanked Museveni for his role in peace keeping and security in the region and welcomed the improved relationship between Uganda and Rwanda.
He commended Uganda’s role in the fight against ebola and expressed his desire to deepen cooperation between the two countries in the health sector.
Museveni called on Prime Minister Abe to support the private sector in Japan to invest in Uganda and promote trade saying Japan has already opened its markets to Africa with zero taxi and no quota.
He said Uganda will procure five more heavy-duty road units from Japan to improve urban infrastructure and facilitate trade and service delivery.
CN/abj/APA