Japanese premier wraps up South America trip, vowing cooperation to tackle global challenges

Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida wrapped up a landmark visit to South America, pledging to work together with regional countries to tackle global challenges including climate change, economic disparity, and poverty, Japanese media reported on Sunday.

At a press conference on Saturday before concluding his trip, Kishida said Japan will offer "diverse and inclusive cooperation" tailored to each country, including those in Central and South America.

"Latin America is rich in natural resources, such as minerals, energy, and food, while having a large young population. Many of its countries have great potential,” he was quoted as saying by Tokyo-based Kyodo News.

Kishida, on the last leg of a six-day visit that also took him to France, also spoke at a ceremony on Saturday in Sao Paulo, Brazil on Japan's policies toward Latin America and the Caribbean as Tokyo seeks to deepen relations with Global South, a term referring to emerging and developing nations.

On Friday, he held bilateral talks with Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Paraguayan President Santiago Pena. It was his first visit to South America since he took office in October 2021.

Kishida said Japan has decided to provide funds to a program aimed at preserving Brazil's Amazon rainforest, seen as the "lungs of the Earth," while helping Caribbean islands vulnerable to global warming prepare for natural disasters.

Stressing the environment and human rights, he added that his country will continue to promote "high-quality" infrastructure and other sustainable economic cooperation projects by taking into consideration the conditions in recipient nations.

Japanese companies have set up more than 1,000 new offices in the Latin American region over the past 10 years, he added.

On Saturday in Sau Paulo, Kishida also met with a group of people who moved to Brazil from Japan after surviving the US atomic bombing of Hiroshima in 1945 towards the end of World War II, including a 100-year-old man.