Japan-Saudi Arabia Relations (Basic Data)

January 2012

Basic Data

General: Bilateral relations have taken a smooth course to date. The visit to Japan by Saudi Defense and Aviation Minister Prince Sultan Bin Abdul-Aziz in 1960 marked the beginning of bilateral visits by dignitaries of both nations, and in 1971 King Faisal visited Japan. Reciprocal visits by members of the Saudi royal and Japanese imperial families and premier and cabinet-level visits have grown more frequent since the "oil crisis" of 1973. In November 1994, the visit of Crown Prince Naruhito and Crown Princess Masako to Saudi Arabia opened a new chapter in the history of friendly relations between the two families. In September 1995, Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama visited Saudi Arabia as part of his tour of the Middle East. As for recent developments, Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto called for "Comprehensive Partnership toward the 21st Century" that covers comprehensively political, economic and new areas of cooperation between Japan and Saudi Arabia, when he visited Saudi Arabia in 1997. In 1998 Crown Prince Abdullah and Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi witnessed the signing of "Japan-Saudi Arabia Cooperation Agenda." Foreign Minister Yohei Kono visited Saudi Arabia in 2001 and announced the initiatives in the following three areas: promoting dialogues with the Islamic World, developing water resources and engaging in diverse political dialogues. During the visit of Prime Minister Koizumi to Saudi Arabia in May 2003, Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and H.R.H. Crown Prince Abdullah decided that both countires host commemorative events in 2005. In 2006 Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdul-Aziz Al-Saud, who opened the series of mutual visits by dignitaries in 1960, paid an official visit to Japan. In 2007 Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited Saudi Arabia at the invitation of King Abdullah.

In the economic area, Saudi Arabia is the most important supplier of crude oil to Japan, and Japan has become Saudi Arabia's main partner in trade and investment.
Diplomatic Relations:: 1955 Establishment of diplomatic relations; 1958 Saudi Embassy in Tokyo established; 1960 Japanese Embassy in Saudi Arabia established in Jiddah, before moving to Riyadh in 1984
Bilateral Treaties and Agreements: 1975 Agreement on Economic and Technical Cooperation between the Government of Japan and the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 1998 Japan-Saudi Arabia Cooperation Agenda; 2006 Joint Statement: Towards the building of strategic and multi-layered partnership between Japan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; 2007 Joint Statement between the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and Japan
Number of Residents: Number of Japanese Nationals residing in Saudi Arabia: 1,092 (as of October 2007); Number of Saudi Nationals residing in Japan: around 300 (as of 2007)
Economic Relations: (a) Exports and imports, 2006 (IMF "Direction of Trade Statistics")
Saudi exports to Japan: 33,624 million US dollars (crude oil, petroleum products, LPG)
Saudi imports from Japan: 5,103 million US dollars (automobiles, machinery and equipment, metals); (b) Japanese crude imports (2006) (BP Statistics)
Imports from Saudi Arabia total 1.3 million barrels a day, 31% of total crude imports
Economic Cooperation: Since Saudi Arabia's per capita GNP is high, Japan does not extend funding assistance. But in view of the close economic relationship and Saudi Arabia's great need for technical assistance, Japan provides technical cooperation on a project basis; accepts trainees in sectors such as communications, broadcasting, mining, and manufacturing; sends experts to the country; and offers other forms of assistance. Japan is considering further ways of extending cooperation to help raise Saudi technological levels still higher in future years.

(1) Technical cooperation
Number of Saudi trainees dispatched to Japan: 1,894 (as of FY2006)
Number of Japanese experts dispatched to Saudi Arabia: 789 (as of FY2006)

(2) Other major donors to Saudi Arabia
France, Germany
Educational and Cultural Exchanges: (1) Mutual visits by youth groups and athletes have taken place since 1985 between Japan and the member nations of the Gulf Cooperation Council.; (2) In 1993, a Japanese language department was set up within the College of Languages and Translation of King Saud University.; (3) As of 2007 around 150 Saudi students are studying in Japan under the scholarship program of the Saudi government.

VIP Visits

Visit to Saudi Arabia from Japan

Year	Name
1990	Foreign Minister Taro Nakayama
1990	Prime Minister Toshiki Kaifu
1992	International Trade and Industry Minister Kozo Watanabe
1994	Crown Prince and Princess
1995	Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama
1997	Minister of Education Takashi Kosugi
1997	Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto
1999	Minister of International Trade and Industry Mitsuo Horiuchi
1999	State Secretary for Foreign Affairs Nobutaka Machimura
1999	Minister of International Trade and Industry Kaoru Yosano
2000	Minister of International Trade and Industry Takashi Fukaya
2001	Foreign Minister Yohei Kono
2001	Former Foreign Minister Masahiko Koumura (Special Envoy for Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi)
2001	Minister of Economic, Trade and Industry Takao Hiranuma
2003	Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi
2005	Former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto
2005	Crown Prince and Former Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto
2006	Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries Shoichi Nakagawa
2007	Prime Minister Shinzo Abe
2007	Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Akira Amari

Visit to Japan from Saudi Arabia

Year	Name
1990	Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister and Planning Minister Hisham Mohieddin Nazer
1990	General Presidency of Youth Welfare President Prince Faisal Bin Fahd
1990	Prince Nawaf Bin Abdul-Aziz
1992	Commerce Minister Sulaiman Abdul-Aziz Al-Suleim
1992	Planning Minister Abdul-Wahhab Bin Abdul-Salam Attar
1993	Prince Turki Bin Faisal Bin Abdul-Aziz
1994	Petroleum and Mineral Resources Minister and Planning Minister Hisham Mohieddin Nazer
1994	Industry and Electricity Minister Abdul-Aziz Abdullah Al-Zamil
1996	Foreign Minister Prince Saud Faisal
1997	Education Minister Mohammad Bin Ahmad Al-Rasheed
1997	Planning Minister Abdul-Wahhab Bin Abdul-Salam Attar
1998	H.R.H. Prince Salman the Governer of Riyadh Region
1998	H.R.H. Crown Prince Abdullah
2002	Minister of National Economy and Planning Al-Gosaibi
2003	Minister of National Economy and Planning Al-Gosaibi
2003	Minister of Commerce and Industry Dr. Yamani
2004	Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Al-Naimi
2005	Minister of Commerce and Industry Dr. Yamani
2006	H.R.H Crown Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud
2007	Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources Al-Naimi
2007	Secretary-General of the National Security Council Prince Bandar Bin Sultan

History of Exchanges

Among Japanese contacts with Saudi Arabia before World War II can be cited the pilgrimage to Mecca undertaken by the Muslim Kotaro Yamaoka with a Mongolian group in 1909. He later wrote of the hardships of making pilgrimages.

Official contacts have included the visit to Japan by Saudi envoy to England Hafiz Wahab to attend the opening in 1938 of a mosque in Yoyogi, Tokyo, and the 1939 visit to Saudi Arabia by Japanese envoy to Egypt Yokoyama, who had an audience with King Ibn Sa'ud.

Major postwar developments were the dispatch in 1953 of the first Japanese economic delegation to Saudi Arabia and the formal establishment of diplomatic relations the following year.

One of the centerpieces of the bilateral relationship has been the oil-field concessions granted by Saudi Arabia to the Japanese firm, Arabian Oil Co., and the successful extraction of petroleum thereafter. The concession agreement was signed in December 1957, and trial extractions proved successful in January 1960. The agreement was terminated in February 2000.

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