The Diplomat
The new Japanese Ambassador to Spain, Takahiro Nakamae, presented the Copies of his Letters of Credence last week to the Ambassadors’ introducer, María Sebastián de Erice.
Nakamae came to the historic headquarters of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Santa Cruz Palace on the 19th, a week after taking up his post at the Embassy.
The new ambassador posted a message on the Embassy’s website on 12 December in which he expressed his desire to “strengthen collaboration with Spain in the field of security and defence” in a world in which the security of Europe and the Indo-Pacific region have become “indivisible”. At the same time, he pledged to boost business relations through “joint projects” in sectors such as renewable energy and infrastructure.
He also stressed that bilateral relations between Spain and Japan “are sustained by the bonds of friendship cultivated over centuries, in which the close ties between the Royal House and the Imperial House are noteworthy”.
Takahiro Nakamae, 62, recalled that he spent two years living in Valladolid and Madrid between 1986 and 1988, when he began his career as a diplomat. Throughout his career, the new ambassador has been closely linked to Latin America, as he was director of the Office of Latin American Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 2017 and 2019 and ambassador to Argentina from that year until his appointment to head the Embassy in Spain. He was also responsible for the affairs of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean within the Ministry, Consul General of Japan in Sao Paulo and member of the Embassy in Brazil.
