Photo/Illutration Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is accompanied by Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit during his visit to the Arab League headquarters in Cairo, Egypt, on April 30. (AP Photo)

ACCRA--Prime Minister Fumio Kishida agreed with Ghanaian President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo to work toward strengthening the functioning of the United Nations, including reforming the Security Council.

Kishida stopped in Ghana during his tour of four African nations and met with Akufo-Addo at the presidential palace here on the evening of May 1.

“President Akufo-Addo and I agreed on the importance of a free and open international order based on the rule of law,” Kishida said at a joint news conference after the meeting.

Akufo-Addo said the current Security Council does not reflect today’s reality because its key members comprise the victors of World War II. He said reform must be advanced.

Both Japan and Ghana serve as nonpermanent members of the Security Council.

Kishida said Japan will provide around $500 million (about 68 billion yen) over the next three years for peace and stability in the Sahel region, which is the southern portion of the Sahara Desert, and countries along the coast of the Gulf of Guinea that includes Ghana.

“We will use this visit as an impetus to further strengthen cooperation across a wide range of fields, including the economy, development and the interactions of people,” Kishida said.

The two leaders also agreed to cooperate in dealing with North Korea.

This is the first visit by a Japanese prime minister to Ghana in 17 years since Junichiro Koizumi’s visit in 2006.

Ahead of the meeting, Kishida visited the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research in the capital city.

World-renowned bacteriologist Hideyo Noguchi died in Accra at the age of 51 in 1928 after contracting yellow fever while studying the disease.

The institute was established with Japan’s grant aid and has become a base for infectious disease control in West Africa.

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