Ambassador Yasuhiro Atsumi presented his credentials to the Secretary-General of the International Seabed Authority (ISA), H.E. Mr. Michael W. Lodge, as the Permanent Representative of Japan to ISA, during a ceremony held on 27 February in Kingston, Jamaica.
Ambassador Atsumi holds a master’s in international management from the American Graduate School of International Management and a master’s in international studies from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies.
During the ceremony, Ambassador Atsumi said: “Japan attaches great importance to the role ISA plays in international management of exploration and development of deep-sea mineral resources and the conservation of the marine environment. As the new Permanent Representative of Japan to ISA, I look forward to further strengthening Japan’s cooperation with the Secretary-General and the ISA Secretariat and making active contributions to ISA activities.”
Secretary-General Lodge welcomed Ambassador Atsumi as the new Permanent Representative of Japan to ISA. “We have always enjoyed the most cordial relationship with Japan, a long-standing Member of the Council, the sponsor of three exploration contracts and the second-largest contributor to the budget of ISA. As a major maritime power and a pioneer investor in deep-sea exploration, Japan has a critical contribution to make to the progressive development of the regulatory regime for future sustainable deep-sea mining in the Area,” Mr. Lodge said.
Before this appointment, Ambassador Atsumi served as Executive Director at the Inter-American Development Bank (2011-2014), Deputy Director-General for Policy Evaluation, Minister’s Secretariat, Ministry of Finance (2014-2015) and Managing Director of the Securities Analysts Association of Japan (2015-2022).
For media enquiries, please contact:
Ms. Stefanie Neno, Communications Specialist, ISA, sneno@isa.org.jm