"To do politics today, is to find new investment capital, and that is what I am doing with much earnestness and interest," President Fernández told Dominican journalists covering his tour of Asia. President Fernández is the first Dominican statesman to ever visit Japan while in office. News correspondents covering President Leonel Fernández’s trip to Asia are reporting good news back on the results of the trip. Hoy newspaper correspondent Manuel Jiménez reports that the government of Japan may finance the installation of Japanese companies in the Santo Domingo Cyberpark, the high tech park promoted by President Fernandez. The funding would be provided by the Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), according to that corporation’s head, Governor Hiroshi Yasuda, who met with President Fernandez yesterday. Reportedly, President Fernandez spoke on the phone by telephone with James Wolfensohn, president of the World Bank, who favors the Dominican Republic being favored by the SoftBank technological investment program that was announced yesterday. On Monday, Fernandez met with the top executive of SoftBank, Masayoshi Son, who showed an interest in investing in DR-based Internet-related companies. (http://www.dr1.com/daily/news021400.shtml) The director of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) Kimio Fujita also announced his support to development projects in the DR. The funding would assist farming, environment and education projects. President Fernandez met yesterday with Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. El Caribe reports that Minister Obuchi committed to send a technical-financial mission to the DR to identify development projects, as per a report in The Japan Times. President Fernández was received yesterday by the Emperor of Japan Akihito who decorated him with the Order of Chrysanthemum, the highest decoration given by the Japanese royalty. President Fernández reciprocated, decorating the Japanese Emperor with the Order of Christopher Columbus, Golden Cross. Yesterday, President Fernandez attended a business promotion presentation promoted by Jetro, the Japan External Trade Organization. And he met with foreign ambassadors of Latin America and Caribbean accredited in Japan. He visited the installations of the Nipon Telephone and Telegraph and the Japanese Diet, and had lunch with 30 Japanese congressmen that are members of the Committee of Friends of the DR. The President is traveling with Secretary of the Presidency Alejandrina German, Minster of Industry and Commerce Luis Manuel Bonetti, Minister of Foreign Relations Eduardo Latorre, Technical Secretary of the Presidency Temistocles Montas and Minister of Tourism Felix Jimenez. Eli Heiliger of the Listín Diario reports that the Dominican Republic is known in Japan for its baseball players and merengue music.
