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Joint Announcement between Japan and the Sultanate of Oman

April 2008

On the occasion of the visit to Japan of His Highness Sayyid Haitham bin Tarik Al Said, Minister of Heritage and Culture of the Sultanate of Oman, from 31 March to 5 April, 2008, at the invitation of His Excellency Mr. Masahiko Koumura, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan, the Government of Japan and the Government of the Sultanate of Oman jointly announced the firm wishes to further the bilateral relationship through exchanges and cooperation in the following fields:

1. Cultural Exchanges

1) Both sides intend to encourage the following activities of both nationals:

• Exchanges of artists and cultural experts.
• Holding of lectures, seminars, art exhibitions and other cultural events.
• Exchanges of books, periodicals and other publications.
• Translation and publication of selected works of literature in Japanese, Arabic and English.
• Further mutual understanding of culture, heritage, civilization and other cultural achievements in each country.
• Cooperation in the field of archeology.

2) Both sides will promote and facilitate cooperation among various organizations and institutions of both sides including the Japan Foundation, paying special attention to the year 2012, which marks the 40th anniversary of the diplomatic relationships between the two countries. In this connection, Embassy of Japan in Oman intends to hold cultural events in Muscat for the celebration of the Anniversary.

2. Exchanges on Academic, Educational, Youth, Sports and Social Issues

Both sides will encourage the followings:
1) Exchanges of scholars, students, researchers, youth, as well as sports players and others.
2) Exchange between higher education and research institutions.
3) Exchange of information on social welfare education and other social agenda, including the social status of women, through conferences, seminars and Internet.

3. Other areas of cooperation

1) Both sides will facilitate cooperation on human resource development, especially for developing future industrial leaders. The Omani side will consider establishing a new scholarship for this purpose. The Japanese side will consider ways to provide educational and training opportunities for future industrial leaders and to enhance its assistance to strengthen the capacity of Omani workers.

2) With regard to the protection of the environment, the Omani side appreciated the contribution by Japanese organizations such as JICA for their technical cooperation represented in Mangrove Forestry. The Japanese side paid special tribute to the victims of the Cyclone Gonu which hit the Sultanate in June, 2007, and both sides reiterated their determination to achieve an effective global framework beyond 2012 for climate change, while ensuring the responsible participation of all major emitting countries in the world. In this regard, the Omani side expressed its great expectation toward the G8 Hokkaido Toyako Summit meeting chaired by Japan and supported the Japanese initiatives Cool Earth 50 and the Cool Earth Promotion Program. Both sides also recognized the importance of utilizing environment friendly technology or energy efficiency and conservation technology.

3) As for tourism promotion, both sides acknowledged the potential of tourism promotion in the two countries with rich cultural and natural heritage, and the Japanese side welcomed the positive initiative by Oman to open a tourism promotion office in Japan.