President Maithripala Sirisena arrived this morning (May 26) in Nagoya in Southern Japan to participate in the G 7 Outreach Summit in Ise-Shima, an exotic island south of Nagoya.

The President was received at the airport by Yoji Muto, Japanese Minister of State for Foreign Affairs, Hideaki Oomura, Governor of Aichi Prefecture, Hideaki Oomura, Ambassador Dhammika Ganganath Dissanayake and other officials and diplomats.

Later a Sri Lankan child received the President on his arrival at the Nagoya Hilton offering a traditional ‘Bulath Atha’.
This afternoon President Sirisena is scheduled to meet Vietnamese Prime Minister Ngyuyn Xuan Phuc for bilateral discussions. They will also discuss the issues to be discussed at the G 7 Outreach Summit sustainable peace, stability and prosperity.

Later Head of Japan External Trade Organization, Hiroyuki Ishige and Onomichi Dockyard President Takashi Nakabe will meet the President.

A leading analyst Ayako Mie of the Japan Times said the G 7 leaders are very likely to seriously discuss and take decisions regarding maritime security of Asian sea lanes, health and gender issues and arrive at some workable solutions. He added that Japan decided to invite countries such as Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Papua New Guinea for the purpose of emphasizing the need to support these up coming Asian nations.

In addition to the immense image building and long term benefits that Sri Lanka could get from the G 7 Summit in Ise-Shima, on the sideline of the Summit, there will be a Japan – Sri Lanka bilateral meeting that could generate bountiful results for the benefit of Sri Lanka. The preliminary discussions indicated what Sri Lanka could get from Japan for long term and short term projects.

There is a great interest in Japan about the G 7 Summit. While two major newspapers, Asahi Shimbun and Yomiuri Shimbun carried several features on G 7, in most of the articles on the G 7 Outreach Session carried photographs of President Maithripala Sirisena and articles on his achievements, though there are six other countries among the invitees.

Genji Sukuma, a retired consultant said that Japanese investors would see the invitation to G 7 as a clear signal of positive conditions in Sri Lanka conducive for investments.

The G7 leaders will join their Asian special invitees tomorrow at the Outreach Summit.