Japan is to open an embassy in Malta, the government announced on Saturday.

The decision was communicated to Foreign Affairs Minister Ian Borg by his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi during a bilateral meeting the two held in New York last week. Both Malta and Japan are currently serving terms as non-permanent members of the UN Security Council. 

In a statement announcing the Japanese decision, Malta’s foreign affairs ministry said that Japan has allocated funds to set up a Maltese embassy, following local efforts to bolster diplomatic ties between the two countries.

Borg met with Hayashi in September 2022 and also attended the state funeral of former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, who was assassinated while delivering a speech last July. During that visit, Borg said that it appeared Japan was “showing commitment” to opening an embassy in Malta.  

On Saturday, he said that he was gratified to see that diplomatic efforts are paying off. “I’m convinced that having a Japanese Embassy in Malta will give bilateral relations and trade between the two countries a solid basis to grow further,” he said.

Malta’s main trade with Japan is in fish, with the local fish farming sector exporting hundreds of millions of tuna every year to the Asian country.

Malta established its own embassy in Japan in 2020. Andre Spiteri serves as the country’s ambassador to Japan.