August 25, 2012

Japanese Communist Party Chair Shii Kazuo on August 24 met with the outgoing Cuban Ambassador to Japan, Jose Fernandez de Cossio, at the JCP head office and expressed his gratitude for the ambassador’s services during his five-year tenure.

The ambassador stated that engaging in talks with the JCP helped him to more clearly understand Japan’s political situation.

Shii thanked the ambassador’s participation in the JCP Congress as well as in the annual World Conference against A & H Bombs. Appreciating the ambassador’s instrumentality, Shii recalled his attendance at a breakfast meeting of ambassadors of Latin American and Caribbean Group and a meeting with a deputy permanent representative at the U.N. during the 2010 NPT Review Conference in New York.

Cossio thanked Shii for the JCP support through its organ paper, Akahata, in the struggle against the U.S. embargo against Cuba.

The JCP chair replied that the JCP will continue making efforts until the embargo is ended.

He also asked the ambassador to convey the JCP message to Cuban President Raul Castro.

In the meeting, JCP Vice Chair Ogata Yasuo and Counsellor Andrez Gonzales Ballester at the Cuban Embassy in Tokyo also attended.