40 years of friendship: Fremantle Ports and Nagoya Port Authority

In the agreement, both ports committed themselves: "to promote friendship and understanding between themselves and between the nations of Australia and Japan through cultural, economic, technical and personal exchange".

In the four decades since then, Fremantle Ports has hosted many inbound delegations from Japan, featuring high-level meetings and discussions, as these images show from 1993 and 2013 (images 2 and 3).

These days, Japan remains a significant economic partner for Western Australia, - our State's second largest export market overall, and a priority overseas destination for commodities including animal feed, grains, alumina, silica, titanium oxide and fruit and vegetables. It is also a leading import source for inputs our State needs to grow, including slag residue, cement clinker, caustic soda and fertiliser.

We take this opportunity to recognise the importance of our economic relationship with Japan, which is vital to our State's prosperity.

We express our appreciation for this long-standing and valuable partnership, offering our best wishes and congratulations to our colleagues at the Nagoya Port Authority.