Prime Minister Babiš visits Japan for Emperor Naruhito’s enthronement

On Tuesday 22 October 2019 Prime Minister Andrej Babiš attended Emperor Naruhito’s enthronement ceremony in Tokyo. The Prime Minister also met with the Deputy Prime Minister of Oman, Sayyid Asa’ad bin Tariq bin Taimur al-Said, and the Prime Minister of Vietnam, Nguyễn Xuân Phúc. Later the Czech Prime Minister visited the Imperial Palace, where he and his wife Monika attended a banquet following the Emperor’s enthronement.

Prime Minister Andrej Babiš and his wife Monika attended the enthronement ceremony or Sokuirei-Seiden-no-gi at the invitation of the new Emperor Naruhito, who is the ruling dynasty’s 126^th emperor. After the formal ceremony the guests were invited to a court banquet or Kyoen-no-gi.

“President Zeman asked me to represent the Czech Republic at the ceremony. Presidents, statesmen, kings and politicians from all over the world are here. The last enthronement was thirty years ago, and it’s an experience I’ll remember for the rest of my life,” the Prime Minister said.

While in Japan Prime Minister Babiš also met the Deputy Prime Minister of Oman, Sayyid Asa’ad bin Tariq bin Taimur al-Said, on Tuesday. The Omani Deputy Prime Minister and the Czech Prime Minister had already met at a summit for the European Union and the League of Arab States in Egypt in February.

“We mainly talked about economic cooperation. Czech companies are interested in selling their products in Oman. We’d also like Oman to open an embassy in Prague, and we’re trying to persuade them to launch direct flights,” Andrej Babiš explained.

The Czech Prime Minister also met the Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyễn Xuân Phúc. They mainly talked about trade and business opportunities. This was the third time the two prime ministers have met recently. According to Prime Minister Babiš the Czech Republic could offer its Vietnamese partners machinery and equipment for its defence industry. They also discussed setting up a work programme for nurses who could then find employment in Czech healthcare facilities that are suffering from staff shortages.

They also discussed direct flights between Hanoi and Prague. “The Vietnamese Prime Minister visited Prague this year, and we agreed that the Vietnamese airline Bamboo Airways would start operating direct flights in April or May next year,” Prime Minister Babiš said.

On Monday 21 October, the first day of his visit to Japan, Andrej Babiš and his wife Monika visited Kyoto, which has been Prague’s sister city for more than 20 years. There they met the mayor, Daisaku Kadokawa, and talked about the excellent relations between their two countries concerning culture, education, science and tourism, and the forthcoming 100^th anniversary of the opening of diplomatic relations.

The Prime Minister will continue his visit to Japan on Wednesday 23 and Thursday 24 October, when he will meet the Japanese Prime Minister, the Prime Minister of Serbia, the President of Germany and the Japanese Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance. He also meet representatives from Toyota and NEC.