OREANDA-NEWS. January 24, 2013. Moldovan Deputy Speaker Liliana Palihovici and Health Minister Andrei Usatii organised a wine presentation in Tokyo. The Moldovan officials are paying an official visit to Japan, at the invitation of the Japanese government's International Cooperation Agency, the parliament's communication and media relations department has reported.

The Moldovan Agriculture and Food Industry Ministry helped organise the wine tasting event in Tokyo. Attending the event were notorious Japanese business people, artists, culture personalities, scientists and traditional chefs.

More than 30 types of wine, including sparkling wines produced by 10 Moldovan producers, were presented at the wine tasting, most of them being assessed by experts as highly qualitative. The Japanese officials were interested in wines produced from local grape varieties and encouraged Moldovan producers to export such wines on the Japanese market.

"I was impressed by the Japanese officials' knowledge of wine and their exquisite abilities to select and appreciate them. I met willing people with general knowledge about Moldova. I believe this event will make Moldova and its wines famous," Palihovici said.

Attending the event were also the famous Japanese composer, Arika Senju, the soprano Maria Tatsumi, lectors and technology experts of the Wine Institute from Tokyo and the team of a Japanese magazine specialised in presenting and analysing world wine producers, named "Wine Kingdom". The magazine is edited in French, English and Italian and was presented by the head of the agency, Isao Harada, by its editor-in-chief, Kei Murata, the editor Masako Hori and the Japanese chef, Yosuke Suga, who is also the chef of an international network of restaurants Joel Robuchon, operating in Tokyo, Paris, London, Monaco and Las Vegas.

Palihovici invited the Japanese actor, Tatsumi Takuro, who is the producer of a famous wine TV show, to visit Moldova. Palihovici invited the councillor of the commissioner of the Japanese Tourism Agency to pay a visit to Moldova as well. Takuro will present several Moldovan wines during one of his up-coming TV shows.

"Japan was a real discovery for me in terms of knowledge of wine production. I wish Moldovan wine producers to further persevere, improve the quality of their wines and promote them all over the world," Palihovici said.

The wine export turnout is continuously growing, increasing by 25.7 per cent against the turnout in 2009. Over 50 exhibition events, meant to promote Moldovan wines abroad, were organised during 2010-2012.