KINGSTON, Jamaica — The Jamaica Olympic Association (JOA) continued to deepen its bi-lateral relations in sport with Japan in a recent courtesy call with new Ambassador for Japan Maya Fujiwara.

Ambassador Fujiwara met with the President of the JOA, Christopher Samuda, and Secretary General/CEO, Ryan Foster at the association’s head office in Kingston on Thursday.

He was accompanied by Syotoku Habukawa, the counsellor and deputy head of mission, and Kaoru Kajigayama, the cultural officer, of the Embassy of Japan.

In receiving and extending fraternal greetings to the ambassador, Samuda stated that “one of the primary objectives of the Jamaica Olympic Association is to deepen, through bi-lateral partnerships with national Olympic committees and also diplomacy, bonds in sport in the interest of our athletes and stakeholders”.

Meanwhile, Fujiwara expressed confidence in the continued collaboration and goodwill between the JOA and the embassy and pledged to strengthen ties between the two during his tour of duty,

In 2017, the JOA signed, in Japan, a Memorandum of Understanding with the Tottori Prefecture which will enable all local athletes who have qualified for the Olympic and Paralympic games, the various management teams and coaching staff to be hosted in camp by the Prefecture prior to the start of the respective games, the association noted.

In acknowledging this historic achievement, mutual interest was expressed in advancing sport beyond the Tokyo Games in establishing a sustainable model partnership to which Foster said “the JOA is completely committed as we fulfil one of our mandates to use sport in building strong people to people relationships”.

The officials also had discussions on wide-ranging topics which included the development of smaller sports, mutual exchange of expertise and cultural initiatives with sport being the catalyst.