Ladies and Gentlemen,

Good evening and welcome to my residence.  Thank you very much for joining us for this reception this evening to bid farewell to Minister Ito, DCM, and to introduce his successor, Minister Kitaoka, and other colleagues on the occasion of the reshuffling of the staff at the Embassy of Japan.

          First of all, Minister Ito has served here as DCM for more than two years and will stay here for another two months.  In that sense, it is a bit too early to bid farewell at this stage, to be honest.  However, many of our colleagues in the diplomatic community have started to take leave, and therefore I thought that the earlier the better rather than waiting for another month.  Minister Ito has applied for an important post at the IMO and is scheduled to move to London in September.

Secondly, the DCM will be succeeded by Minister Kitaoka, and this transition will take place step by step.  Mr. Kitaoka has served here as Economic Minister for the past nine months and has developed an extensive network with the business sector, the financial sector and the aid community.  He will focus more on political aspects from now on.

Thirdly, the role played by Minister Kitaoka has been succeeded by Minister-Counsellor Okubo, who assumed his duty here at the end of last May.  Mr. Okubo is one of the two French speakers in our Embassy and will supervise economic, business and ODA matters.

The fourth colleague I would like to introduce is Mr. Kobayashi.  He has served as the head of the Political Section for more than one year and is now moving to the head of the General Affairs Section.  He is also a French speaker, serving as the primary contact point with francophone countries.  He will have a broad responsibility such as intra-Embassy coordination, visits by dignitaries, Ethiopian internal politics, security in Ethiopia and administration matters.

The fifth colleague I will introduce is Shiori or better known as Sherry.  She is a new head of the Political Section, succeeding Mr. Kobayashi.  She will be in charge of Ethiopian foreign policy, peace and security issues in Africa, the AU and IGAD.  She is also designated as our Liaison Officer with the defense community in Addis Ababa until a defense attaché is assigned to our Embassy.

Last but not least I would like to introduce Hikari who is better known as Sunny or Shinnie as she is always shining.  She remains as the head of the Press and Cultural Section.  In addition to that responsibility, she is now designated as the Spokesperson of the Embassy.  She will hold press conferences or briefings from time to time and serve as the contact point with the media.

          These are the changes we have undergone or will undergo in the near future.  I hope that we continue to have good working relationships with each other in the diplomatic community and also in our relations with Ethiopian counterparts and AU colleagues.

           May I now ask my colleagues to say a few words one by one.