JEDDAH: The Japanese expatriate community celebrated the 75th birthday of their emperor at a reception hosted by Japan’s Consul General Toshmitsu Ishigure here on Monday.
Addressing a large number of officials, diplomats, businessmen and other invitees, the consul general said the exchange of high-level visits between the two countries in the past two years had helped in further consolidating the bilateral ties.
Crown Prince Sultan’s tour of Japan in April 2006 was followed by the visits to the Kingdom by the then Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in April 2007, Hiroshi Okuda, former chairman of Toyota and special envoy of the prime minister, in May this year and that of the then Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Akira Amari a month later.
One of the new foundations created by these visits is Japan-Saudi Arabia Industrial Cooperation Task Force, which was formulated in accordance with the joint statement issued during Abe’s visit. “This task force has been making tireless endeavors for the encouragement of Japanese investments in Saudi Arabia,” the consul general said, adding that the agreement for air services signed in August this year and the sixth meeting of the Arab-Japan Dialogue Forum in Riyadh last month have contributed to boosting the friendly relationship between the two countries.
He said Saudi exports to Japan in 2006 reached $34.8 billion, which indicated that Japan was the largest importer from the Kingdom. Saudi Arabia’s imports from Japan in the same year amounted to $5.3 billion, thus making Japan the fourth largest exporter to the Kingdom. In 2007, Japan’s imports from the Kingdom were $35.4 billion, while its exports amounted to $6.7 billion.
Japanese investments in the Kingdom in 2006 reached $3.5 billion, which showed that it had become the Kingdom’s largest investor. The number of subsidiary companies and branches of Japanese firms in the Western Region increased from 30 in October 2007 to 40 this year.
The construction of the Petro-Rabigh project, which is jointly undertaken by Sumitomo Chemical and Saudi Aramco, has been completed and it will become operational in the first quarter of next year. The Saudi-Japan High Automobile Institute in Jeddah has turned out 942 highly qualified car mechanics in the past five years. They have been sent to car workshops all over the Kingdom, the consul general said.
