Born 11th March 1960, Japan’s new ambassador to Serbia Katsumata Takahiko, graduated from Gakushuin University’s Faculty of Law in 1982, before joining the Japanese Ministry of Foreign Affairs that same year. Advancing through the ranks, he served as Principal Deputy Director of the International Agreements Division of the Treaties Bureau from August 2003, becoming Principal Deputy Director of the Economic and Social Treaties Division of the Treaties Bureau a year later, and Counsel for Treaties Negotiation at the Treaties Bureau in September 2004.
He held the position of Director of the Inspection Division at the Minister’s Secretariat from October 2005, before taking on the post of Director of the WTO Dispute Settlement Division of the Economic Affairs Bureau in June 2007 and then becoming director of the Social Treaties Division of the Treaties Bureau in August 2011. In terms of overseas postings, this Japanese diplomat has served as a counsellor at the Embassy of Japan in Turkey, from September 2013, and as minister at the same embassy, as of January 2015. Prior to arriving in Belgrade, he served – from July 2016 – as the ambassador of Japan to Turkmenistan.