TOKYO, 6 April 2006 — Crown Prince Sultan, deputy premier and minister of defense and aviation, arrived here yesterday to a grand welcome which reflected the historic and cordial relations between the two countries.
He was welcomed at Haneda Airport by an unusually senior delegation headed by Crown Prince Naruhito, Foreign Minister Taro Aso and former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto.
Prince Sultan later met members of the Saudi-Japanese Friendship Society and expressed Saudi Arabia’s desire to strengthen cooperation with Japan. He urged businessmen in both countries to increase their investments. Keiichi Konaga, chairman of the society on the Japanese side, welcomed the crown prince. He said the society that includes representatives from 54 leading companies in Japan, works to promote Saudi-Japanese ties.
Prince Sultan also met Saudi students in Japan and urged them to acquire knowledge that would be beneficial to the Kingdom. “It’s an honor to serve one’s country,” he told them. Sultan described Islam as a progressive religion that values education. He hoped that the Saudi students would represent their country in the best way.
“The government is willing to assist Saudi students who study in Japan at their own expense,” he said during the meeting at the Imperial Hotel here. The crown prince said he had confidence in the students and their resolve to study and become successful. The Saudi Ambassador to Japan Faisal Tarad thanked Prince Sultan and said that Saudi students had attained a high level of proficiency. He said he was confident that they would return home and serve their country competently and proudly.
Sultan is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Emperor Akihito today. His three days of meetings here will focus on energy cooperation as well as a free-trade pact, officials said.
In a press statement, Emperor Akihito underscored the historic relations between Saudi Arabia and Japan which go back as far as 1938. He said both countries were looking forward to strengthening their economic and cultural partnership. The statement referred to the historic visit of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah to Japan in 1998 when he was crown prince. During that visit, Abdullah signed the agenda for Saudi-Japanese cooperation with then Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi. An exchange of visits by members of the two royal families has played an important role in boosting bilateral economic and political relations that have been uninterrupted for many years.
Prince Sultan was the first high-ranking Saudi official to visit Japan in 1960, a few years after the two countries established diplomatic relations in 1955. King Faisal visited Japan in 1971, taking Saudi-Japanese ties to new heights.
Economy and Planning Minister Khaled Al-Gosaibi, who is part of the current delegation, will hold talks with Japanese Trade Minister Toshihiko Nikai concerning economic cooperation including upcoming free-trade negotiations. Japan plans to open dialogue this year on a free-trade deal with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The six-member GCC accounted for 75 percent of Japan’s oil imports in 2005. Japanese Ambassador in Riyadh Yasuo Saito said his country and its 130 million people had been looking forward to the crown prince’s visit for the past three years. “Our people will celebrate the royal visit and I am personally proud of seeing Crown Prince Sultan in Japan,” he said.
In a statement on the occasion, Salim Hassan Al-Asmarei, director of the Jeddah-based Saudi Japanese Automobile High Institute (SJAHI), said the royal visit would help boost cooperation between the two countries in all sectors, especially in the transfer of modern technology and the training of young Saudis. Asmarei said SJAHI, which was officially opened in March 2003, was one of the results of Abdullah’s historic visit to Japan in October 1998. The visit saw the signing of a memorandum of understanding to establish the institute.
This is Prince Sultan’s first foreign tour since becoming crown prince in August 2005. He is accompanied by a high-level delegation including Prince Faisal ibn Saud, Prince Mishaal ibn Abdullah, director of studies at the crown prince’s office, and Prince Faisal ibn Sultan, secretary-general of the Sultan Charitable Foundation.
Prominent businessmen including chairmen of chambers of commerce and industry in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam are also taking part in the meetings.
Prince Sultan is scheduled to arrive in Singapore on April 10 on the second leg of his Asian tour. Saudi ambassador to Singapore, Dr. Muhammad Kurdi, said the three-day visit would witness the signing of a number of bilateral accords, including one for the promotion and protection of investment and another for promoting cooperation between the foreign ministries of the two countries.
From Singapore, the crown prince will fly to Islamabad on April 15 for talks with President Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. In a statement on the occasion, Saudi ambassador, Ali Awadh Asseri, urged Saudi businessmen to take advantage of the lucrative investment opportunities in Pakistan. He also spoke highly of the country’s educational institutions and said Saudi students could pursue higher education there.
