Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Ayman Safadi and Minister of Planning and International Cooperation Zina Touqan met on Monday with Japanese Prime Minister Kishida Fumio to discuss enhancing cooperation, as well as regional and international issues of common interest.
During the meeting, Safadi underlined Jordan’s commitment to strengthening the historical partnership and relations between the two countries.
For his part, Kishida said he was looking forward to meeting King Abdullah in Japan next month to discuss boosting ties.
The meeting tackled the outcomes of the third strategic dialogue session that Safadi held with his Japanese counterpart Yoshimasa Hayashi yesterday with the aim of cementing cooperation in the economic, investment and defense fields and increasing coordination on regional and international issues of common interest.
The Japanese Prime Minister hailed the Jordanian-Japanese relations and the Kingdom’s key role in enhancing security and stability in the region, as well as its humanitarian role in hosting Syrian refugees.
Safadi hailed Japan’s support for the Kingdom and its contribution to development programs in the energy and water sectors, underlining the importance of Japan’s support for refugees and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA).
Safadi and Kishida also discussed many regional and international issues, foremost of which is the Palestinian cause and the two-state solution, which Japan supports. Safadi warned of the seriousness of the situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, stressing the need to stop unilateral Israeli measures and find a political horizon for resolving the conflict on the basis of the two-state solution.
The officials also discussed the Free and Open Indo-Pacific (FOIP), as Safadi stressed that Jordan backs Japan in its efforts to resolve outstanding issues with North Korea, including the issue of the abductions of Japanese citizens.
Safadi and Touqan held separate meetings with the Speaker of the House of Representatives of Japan, Hosoda Hiroyuki, the Chairperson of the Japan-Jordan Parliamentary Friendship League, Tanaka Kazunori, and the Chairman of Japan External Trade Organization Sasaki Nobuhiko.
The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan hosted Safadi during his visit in a dialogue session to talk about Jordanian-Japanese relations, the peace process in the Middle East, the refugee crises, and the latest regional developments.
Source: Jordan News Agency