By Khaled Al-Awadh, Special to Arab News
RIYADH, 9 July — A group of 18 media persons are scheduled to leave for Japan tomorrow to attend a monthlong training course under the Youth Friendship Program 2001, organized by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
The participants are currently attending a four-day orientation course, which includes lectures on Japanese culture, language lessons and travel guidance, in Riyadh.
“Since JICA Saudi Arabia office was established in 1976, it has brought more than 1,600 Japanese experts and consultants to the Kingdom and took as many Saudis to Japan for training or on study tours,” Kuniaki Nagata, resident representative of JICA in Riyadh, said yesterday at the opening of the orientation program.
The ceremony was attended by Ahmad Al-Hakami, deputy minister of planning; Muhammad Fayez, adviser to the minister of planning; and Kazuaki Obe, counselor at the Embassy of Japan.
The program, Nagata said, was carried out in the last three years in the education field and groups of young Saudi teachers visited Japan for one month each year.
It is for the first time that JICA is targeting the media sector in its youth friendship program, he said, adding that around 1,700 participants from all over the world are invited this year.
For his part, Planning Ministry’s Fayez urged all participants to utilize “this unique program” to their maximum benefit and asked them to reflect a good image of Saudi Arabia.
“I am extremely pleased to see the relationship between JICA and various Saudi organizations has been continuously expanding and more and more Saudi agencies and Saudi personnel are benefiting from JICA’s technical cooperation program,” Fayez said.
The Saudi team comprises representatives of the Ministry of Islamic Affairs, Ministry of Information, the Council of Saudi Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Saudi Press Agency and local newspapers.
