President Faure Gnassingbé carried out from an official visit of five days in Japan, on Tuesday. He will be welcomed by Emperor Akihito, will also meet Prime Minister Naoto Kan, the members of the government and the private sector. For this visit has two purposes; First, strengthen political cooperation, and also attract investment.
Lomé and Tokyo have expressed their desire to establish a close relationship. The strong signal, an embassy of Togo has opened recently in the Japanese capital.
The first to kick off the revival was former Prime Minister, Komlan Mally, who had participated in the TICAD IV in Yokohama in June 2008.
Then in 2009, former Foreign Minister of Togo, Koffi Esaw, went to Tokyo. On this occasion, the Japanese government had set aside a portion of the debt and the granted 2 billion FCFA for school construction and rehabilitation of health centers.
Also in 2009, Japan had provided emergency food assistance of 3.5 billion CFA francs.
"The Togolese authorities are making major efforts to rebuild the country after 15 years of political crisis. We assist, with satisfaction, the strengthening of the democracy in Togo and Japan will accompany Togo in its development policy," said the then Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs.
In late 2009, Japan had provided a support budget amounting to 3 billion FCFA.
In March 2011, despite the disaster that struck the archipelago, Tokyo had offered 45 million CFA francs for the construction of a new school in Sada (Prefecture Ogou); a few weeks earlier, more than two billion were granted for the purchase of rice and wheat for local consumption.
Further to development aid, the government is interested in several projects in Togo, especially in port and a mission of experts was on hand earlier this year, in addition, the Japanese authorities partially funding the digitization of maps Togo.
One of the architects of the renewed cooperation between the two countries is Yoshifumi Okamura, Japan's Ambassador to Togo.
President Faure Gnassingbé is set on Asia. The involvement of China is well established, but he also wants to expand the network of partners in other countries, including Japan, India and Malaysia.
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