The Japanese Ambassador to Cameroon, His Excellency Kunio Okamura, recently concluded a trip to Lake Nyos area in the North West Region to visit the degassing project funded by his government.

He spent the night on the banks of Lake Nyos, thereby becoming the first ever Ambassador to do so. He also took time off to meet regional and local administrative authorities and participated in a workshop on disaster prevention and management in Zhoa, Fungom Subdivision of Menchum Division.

At the end of the trip from February 2-5, 2016, Cameroon Tribune caught up with Ambassador Okamura in Zhoa to discuss progress on the lake degassing project, his country’s economic ties with Cameroon and the forthcoming Tokyo International Conference on African Development, TICAD, holding this year in Africa for the first time. Ambassador Kunio Okamura also talks about the challenges of wooing Japanese investors to Cameroon.