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Consul General Fukuda’s Attendance at the Alberta/Japan Twinned Municipalities Association 2012 Annual General Meeting
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On May 4th and 5th Consul General Fukuda attended the Annual General Meeting for the Alberta/Japan Twinned Municipalities Association in Wetaskiwin, Alberta. Approximately 60 people attended the opening ceremony reception held on the 4th including the Hon. Verlyn Olson, Minister of Justice and Attorney General, Hon. Bill Elliot, Mayor of Wetaskiwin, Hon. Katsuhiko Akutsu, Mayor of Ashoro, Hokkaido, Toshio Yoshida, Chairman of the Town of Ashoro, and Harold Pereverseff, President of the A/JTMA. The roughly 40 attendees at the Annual General Meeting on the 5th included Alberta Government officials and A/JTMA affiliates from various municipalities including Didsbury, Lethbridge, Barhead, Hinton, Rocky Mountain House, Stony Plain, Whitecourt and Lacombe. At the opening ceremony, Consul General Fukuda introduced the fact that Alberta is the liveliest of all Provinces in Canada with respect to sister city relations with Japan. He also touched on the concept that since Ancient times Japan has been flexible in accepting the culture of East and West; furthermore, Japan was the first in Asia to introduce democracy, and is a country that is able to share human values and cultural elements, and he stated that the trust that each nation holds in Japan accumulates due to the public and private sectors joining forces for wide-ranging human interaction, noting that sister city exchange is extremely significant with respect to Japan-Canada relations. Moreover, he expressed once again Japan’s gratitude for the support of the people and government of Alberta in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake and anticipation of visitors travelling to Japan for business, tourism, and to study, and renewed foreign investment and business prospects. The host city of this year’s annual general meeting, Wetaskiwin, has been associated with Ashoro, Hokkaido since 1990. In that time, it has undertaken numerous exchange programs, including donating koinobori carp streamers and dispatching future citizens, such as groups of junior and senior high school students, to visit and observe its sibling city. Each year since 1992, Ashoro has invited one person from Wetaskiwin to act as an international exchange representative, teaching English to elementary and junior high school students and townspeople and promoting exchange activities. Currently the tenth such exchange representative is in Ashoro actively fostering the relationship between the two municipalities.
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Consul General Fukuda’s Remarks During the Opening Ceremony |
Group Photo, Including Mayor Akutsu (front row, third from the right) |
Minister of Justice Olson (R) and Mayor Elliot (L) |
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