Otabe, Suzuki, Umemoto to be tapped for key Foreign Ministry posts+

TOKYO, Dec. 19 Kyodo -
Foreign Minister Hirofumi Nakasone plans to place the Foreign Ministry's
Economic Affairs Bureau Director General Yoichi Otabe in the post of deputy
foreign minister in charge of economic issues, a senior ministry official said
Friday.
To succeed Otabe, 57, as Economic Affairs Bureau chief is likely to be Yoichi
Suzuki, 58, currently consul general in Boston in the United States, while
Kazuyoshi Umemoto, 57, currently deputy director general of the Foreign Policy
Bureau, is expected to be North American Affairs Bureau director general, the
official said.
Current deputy foreign minister in charge of economic issues Masaharu Kono is
expected to be named as an ambassador, according to the official.
The government plans to formalize the decision in a Cabinet meeting on Dec. 26,
the sources said.
Otabe joined the ministry in 1974 and has served in such posts as minister at
the Japanese Embassy in France before becoming Economic Affairs Bureau chief in
January last year.
Suzuki entered the ministry in 1975 and has been consul general in Boston since
September 2005.
Umemoto, who is expected to replace Shinichi Nishimiya as North American bureau
chief, joined the ministry in 1977 and has been deputy director general of the
policy bureau since August last year.
==Kyodo
2008-12-19 23:57:14