Consul-General Tanabe’s Official Visit to the Northwest Territories: May 29-31, 2017

2017/6/7


Frame Lake with view of the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre	Premier Bob McLeod and Consul-General Tanabe

Consul-General of Japan, Kunihiko Tanabe made an official visit to the Northwest Territories from 29 to 31 May 2017. The Territory is approximately 3.6 times the geographic size of Japan and the population is about 44,200 people with approximately 80 Japanese residing in the Territory.
During his visit, the Consul General met with key figures in the Government of the Northwest Territories, including the Honourable Bob McLeod (Premier of Northwest Territories), the Honourable Jackson Lafferty (Speaker of the Legislative Assembly), the Honourable Robert McLeod (Deputy Premier and Minister of Environment and Natural Resources, Minister of Finance and Minister of Human Resources), the Honourable Wally Schumann (Minister of Industry, Tourism and Investment and Minister of Infrastructure) and His Worship Mark Heyck, Mayor of the City of Yellowknife. Topics discussed during the meetings include economic and social development in the Northwest Territories and Japan, and key priorities for the Government of the Northwest Territories.
The Consul-General also met with NWT Tourism, a destination marketing organization, the NWT and Nunavut Chamber of Mines and other Government of Northwest Territories representatives to discuss various topics such as mining, oil and gas and infrastructure.


Hon. Robert C. Mcleod and Consul–General Tanabe	Hon. Jackson Lafferty and Consul–General Tanabe	Hon. Mark Heyck, Mayor of Yellowknife and Consul–General Tanabe

The relationship between Japan and the Northwest Territories continues to be strong especially in regards to the tourism sector with over 10,000 Japanese tourists visiting Yellowknife in the 2015/2016 fiscal year.


Tour of the Caucus Room	Diamond Cutting wheel at the NWT Diamond Centre

The Consul General was also able to watch the proceedings of the second session of the 18th Legislative Assembly and tour the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre and the NWT Diamond Centre.


Consul-General Tanabe in Deputy Minister Joe Dragon’s Traditional Dene coat	Consul-General Tanabe at Pilots Monument overlooking Great Slave Lake