On 17 Oct, a state reception to commemorate the 35th anniversary of the Queensland-Saitama Sister State-Prefecture relationship was held in the Queensland Parliamentary Annexe. The Premier of Queensland, the Hon Annastacia Palaszczuk MP; and Mr KAMIO Takayoshi, Chairperson of the Saitama Prefectural Assembly; gave speeches as the representative of their respective state/prefecture. In their speeches, they reflected on the history of the exchanges between Queensland and Saitama in the past 35 years. Premier Palaszczuk and Mr Kamio also signed a Memorandum of Understanding on a framework for the further collaboration between Queensland and Saitama for the next five years.
A video message from Mr ONO Motohiro, the Governor of Saitama Prefecture, was shown at the reception. Mr Ono remained in Saitama to command the recovery efforts in the aftermath of Typhoon Hagibis which made landfall on Japan a few days prior to the reception. In the video, Mr Ono explained that Kumagaya City in Saitama is one of the host venues of the Rugby World Cup 2019, and that Saitama Prefecture will host four sports, including basketball and football, in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Mr Ono encouraged the reception participants to visit Saitama Prefecture during the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games, and expressed his hope for the further partnership between Saitama Prefecture and Queensland through this major international sports event.
In the reception, the Japanese Sake, Sayama green tea and confectionary produced locally in Saitama were served. There was a choir performance by local children who sang in both English and Japanese, and taiko (Japanese drums) performances by performers from Saitama and children from Gold Coast. There were many people in attendance on the night to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the sister state-prefecture relationship, such as members of the Saitama Prefectural Assembly, representatives from universities in Saitama Prefecture, the Queensland Minister for Local Government, Minister for Racing and Minister for Multicultural Affairs, members of the Queensland Parliament, the Consul-General of Japan in Brisbane, representatives from the local Japanese community in Queensland, and former JET Programme participants from Queensland who were placed in Saitama Prefecture.
There were also exchanges in other fields besides government exchange during the Saitama delegation’s time in Queensland. Representatives from three universities in Queensland and Saitama signed partnership agreements to encourage future exchange, and representatives from universities in Gold Coast and Saitama Prefecture held a sports themed forum.
CLAIR Sydney will continue to support the further development of exchanges between Saitama Prefecture and Queensland.
