I am happy to celebrate our National Day together with our Saudi friends.

We have been enjoying very cordial relations between the two countries ever since we established diplomatic relations in 1955.

I am pleased to note that people have good and accurate images of Japan here in Saudi Arabia.

The Kingdom and Japan have a lot in common, too. Let me give you an example.

Japan has renounced the use of force as a means of settling international conflicts and has been steadfastly making every effort to contribute to the maintenance of peace and stability in the world.

These efforts have been recognized by the international community and Japan has gained the reputation as a peace-loving and trustworthy country.

Modern Japan is also a country of high technology.

It possesses the world's highest level of science and technology, but at the same time it preserves the tradition, emphasizing the harmony of society and tolerance.

I am sure peace and stability is dear in the minds of Saudi people. The Saudi government has been trying very hard to maintain the peace and stability just like Japanese government.

Saudi nationals too are making every effort to preserve the culture and tradition of the country while modernizing in the face of globalization.

Therefore, we strongly believe that there is ample room for Japan and Saudi Arabia to work together for the common goals.

We have already been working together for many years in the field of oil and we have started to expand our areas of cooperation to solar energy, renewables, energy-saving technology, desalination and so on.

But we would like to further diversify our cooperation to include not only economic area but also political, security, cultural areas as well.

And by doing so we hope to live peacefully together and prosper together.

This is exactly what we agreed to do when our Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came to Saudi Arabia this year.

Now it is our task to implement the agreement reached by the leaders of our two countries. Let us work together.

— Jiro Kodera, ambassador of Japan to Saudi Arabia