Nizar Madani, the minister of state for foreign affairs, stressed the Kingdom’s message of peace to the world and its keenness for the nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction while hosting the passengers of the Japanese Peace Boat at the Jeddah Islamic Port yesterday.

The ship that sails around the world spreading the message of peace carried more than 1,000 peace activists from Japan and other nations.

“Saudi Arabia and Japan share many common values governing family life and education, in addition to a vision of making the world, including the Middle East, free of WMDs,” Madani said in his welcome speech at the wharf. Those who spoke on the occasion included Custodian of the two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s Adviser Faisal Moammar, who is also the secretary-general of the King Abdullah International Center for Interfaith Dialogue in Vienna, and Undersecretary for Economics at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Yusuf Al-Saudoun.

Yoshika Tatsuya, director of the Peace Boat, lauded King Abdullah’s peace initiative for interfaith dialogue. The Japanese Peace Boat, which is on its second trip to the Kingdom, is an international nongovernmental and nonprofit organization based in Tokyo. It works to promote peace, human rights, equal and sustainable development and environmental protection, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Three locations were arranged to receive the passengers on the wharf. They had the opportunity of buying handicraft souvenirs from stalls especially set up for them. They also viewed a model of a Saudi desert camp with folkloric shows and cultural events.