RIYADH, 16 October 2004 — Saudi Arabia and Japan have set up two lobbies of parliamentarians to promote their interests and to hold consultations on a range of regional and international issues, be they political, economic or cultural.
These lobbies called “Saudi-Japanese Parliamentary Friendship Committees” will also help to promote Arab causes in Japan besides fostering cooperation in the field of legislative and parliamentary affairs.
This was disclosed by Yasuo Saito, Japanese ambassador, here on Wednesday. Saito, during the briefing, spoke about some ceremonial events, which have been lined up to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Saudi-Japanese diplomatic relations. He pointed out that a horse racing show, a flower show, soccer matches, an industrial exhibition, economic seminars and an expo of wood blocks at the national museum in Riyadh will be organized early next year to mark the occasion.
Referring to the panels of parliamentarians set up inside the legislative bodies, Ambassador Saito said that the Saudi committee composed of nine members of the Shoura Council and its Japanese counterpart comprising 21 members of the House of Representatives and the House of Councilors have been constituted with a mandate to foster political relations and mutual understanding. The Japanese committee is headed by former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto.
This process of bilateral consultation at the level of parliamentarians is being backed further by another tripartite initiative under which delegates from Saudi Arabia, Japan and Egypt will meet here in January next year.
“This initiative called Japan-Arab Dialogue Forum, launched during the visit of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to these three Arab countries including the Kingdom last year, seeks to promote mutual understanding and find out solutions to the problems facing Arab nations”, he said.
This forum, which will also help the process of consultation among friendly countries on a range of regional and international issues including the Middle East peace process and terrorism, may be expanded in future to ensure participation of more Arab countries. In reply to a question about Saudi-Japanese cooperation in combating terrorism, Saito said that a counterterrorism official of the Saudi government will visit Japan late November to discuss how the two countries can cooperate in this field.
The ambassador said that some Japanese terrorism experts also visited Riyadh recently and shared their information, expertise and experience with Saudi officials.
