Foreign Minister Yohei Kono to Visit Foreign Countries

December 22, 2000

Following a visit to Russia which Foreign Minister Yohei Kono announced recently, he will visit the Gulf countries and Sweden from January 7 (Sun), 2001, if the coordination with each country is finalized. The details of the itinerary are now being coordinated.
Regarding the Gulf countries, Mr. Kono plans to visit Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait, and have talks with the key leaders of these countries. In the talks, he intends to exchange views on ways of strengthening relations between Japan and the Gulf countries in the 21st century, and also discuss new forms of cooperation from the viewpoint of 'dialogue between civilizations'.
Since this spring, Mr. Kono has studied Japan's relations with Islamic cultures at the Study Group on Islam in the Foreign Ministry. He would like to consult with the leaders, making much use of the achievement the Study Group has made.
In Sweden, Mr. Kono will take part in the Japan-EU Troika Ministerial Meeting. As he proposed in January this year, Japan and the EU declared that the next ten years starting from the year 2001 would be the "Decade of Japan-Europe Cooperation". Mr. Kono would like to make this Meeting the first forum for putting this cooperation into practice.

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