Ten young Cambodians interested in politics affiliated with the Cambodian People’s Party (CPP), opposition parties and a political think-tank, are due to visit Japan for one week from April 19-26 as the fifth such Cambodian delegation to visit Japan as part of a programme to encourage and support Cambodia’s democratic development.
“Ten young Cambodians involved in politics will visit Japan as a part of the MOFA’s youth exchange program called JENESYS 2023 from April 19 to 26,” according to an April 18 press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.
The press release said that two participants came from the CPP, seven from various opposition parties and one participant with a think-tank.
The programme has been conducted since 2018 in order to support Cambodia’s democratic development through promoting dialogue between ruling party and opposition party members and others. This visit will be the fifth time the exchange has been conducted.
The ten participants will visit Japan’s National Diet and have discussions with Japanese parliamentarians who are part of the Japan-Cambodia Friendship League. They will also visit Miyazaki prefecture to observe the Miyazaki City Assembly Elections and study Miyazaki’s democracy and election promotion activities.
Japanese ambassador to Cambodia Atsushi Ueno said that they held an April 17 send-off ceremony for the participants at his home.
JENESYS is a people-to-people exchange programme between Japan and the Asia-Pacific region and was launched in 2015. Approximately 23,000 people have participated in the inbound and outbound programmes since 2015, according to the press release.
The programme aims to promote mutual trust and understanding among the peoples of Japan and the Asia-Pacific region, and to build a basis for future friendship and cooperation. It also encourages an understanding of Japan’s economics, society, history, diverse culture, politics and diplomatic relations while also encouraging democratic government.