KOTA KINABALU: Sabah has been encouraged to join in the federation of the Most Beautiful Villages on Earth.
Hamada Satoshi, founding vice president of the Association of the Most Beautiful Villages on Earth and Hokkaido’s Biei Town Mayor, said that becoming a member of the association would go a long way towards gaining international recognition for the state’s traditional and historical towns or villages.
“Affiliation with the association would, among others, be beneficial in terms of attracting tourists,” Satoshi said during a meeting with Sabah Tourism Board chairman Datuk Joniston Bangkuai at the recently concluded International Agro-Tourism Forum in Sapporo.
According to Satoshi, some 45 towns and villages in Japan are affiliated to the world body, whose members include France, Italy, Belgium and Canada.
Satoshi suggested that Sabah attend the association’s forthcoming annual conference to be held in Biei, as an observer in May next year, whilst Joniston invited Satoshi to visit the state’s villages or towns that could potentially be listed.
Among the association’s criteria are that villages or towns must have less than 10,000 population and have a minimum of two local resources such as landscape, environment and culture.
The forum, organised by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), was attended by delegates from ASEAN countries such as Mongolia and some 200 senior officials from relevant departments, agencies and companies in the Hokkaido Prefecture.
Sabah Tourism Board (STB) senior product manager Julinus Jimit and marketing manager Simon Jr Jalin, who were among the state delegates, generated a lot of interest from the foreign and Japanese delegates through a presentation featuring Sabah’s tourism attraction at the forum.
JICA senior vice president Domichi Hideaki told the Sabah delegation at the forum that Japan would continue to fund community-based development programmes in Sabah.
“I hope to visit projects initiated by JICA in Sabah in the near future,” said the former ambassador in-charge of Economic Diplomacy at the Japan Foreign Affairs Ministry.
Domichi said based on reports that he had read, Sabah appeared to possess great potential in agro-tourism.