RIYADH, 6 January 2005 — Foreign Minister Prince Saud Al-Faisal will co-chair the next round of Japan-Arab Dialogue together with Ryutaro Hashimoto, former prime minister of Japan, here on Saturday.
The two-day trilateral dialogue in which senior Egyptian officials will also participate, seeks to strengthen the Arab-Japan joint partnership for development purposes and search the modalities of intensive cooperation amid drastic changes taking place in the Arab world.
This was revealed by Japanese Ambassador Yasuo Saito here yesterday. Saito was speaking at a farewell function organized in honor of a group of Saudi Ministry of Education officials who are scheduled to leave for Tokyo on Jan. 9 to attend a 40-day curricula development training program.
The function was attended by Dr. Saud H. Al-Zahrani, general director of curricula development at the Ministry of Education; Suliman Saad ibn Khadhair, head of curricula studies at the Ministry of Education; Kiyofumi Nakauchi, resident representative of the Riyadh-based JICA’s chapter, Yoshio Kanamoto, JICA’s program development manager, and Fumito Bito, second secretary at the Japanese Embassy.
Referring to the composite dialogue in which Saudi, Japanese and Egyptian officials will participate, the ambassador said: “This dialogue, which started 15 months ago in Tokyo, will cover the whole gamut of political, economic and social issues.”
From the Saudi side, the talks will also be attended by Khaled ibn Muhammad Al-Gosaibi, minister of economy and planning, and Dr. Hashim Yamani, minister of commerce and industry.
“The post-war Iraq with special reference to the role of international community and the Middle East peace process will top the agenda of the talks,” said Japanese officials. The dialogue will focus on the long-term political, economic and social stability in the Arab world where as many as 80 million jobs will have to be created in the next 15 years. The dialogue also seeks to promote home-grown efforts and reform initiatives in the Arab countries.
Referring to the training program organized by JICA for Saudi officials, the ambassador said: “This training will help the curricula development program launched by the Kingdom for its educational institutions. I am happy that nine Saudi officials are leaving for Japan to learn from our experience.”
