Visit to North Africa by Mr. Kiyohiro Araki, Senior State Secretary for Foreign Affairs

September 11, 2000

1. Mr. Kiyohiro Araki, Senior State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, will visit Algeria, Tunisia and Libya from 15 (Fri) to 23 (Sat) September.

2. Mr. Araki will meet with leading figures of each country to exchange views on such matters as bilateral relations and the regional situation. Leading figures of these countries have successively visited Japan recently, thereby strengthening bilateral relations.

3. Detailed plans in each country:

Algeria
The intention of this visit, which is in response to the visits to Japan by Mr. Youcef Yousfi, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Algeria, in May and President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in July, is to build confidence with the new Benflis cabinet established at the end of last month, and to hold discussions on bilateral relations in the new century. The two sides will also hold political dialogue on matters including the situation in Africa.
Tunisia
High-level political dialogue will be held with Tunisia, which, as a moderate power, is playing an important role for the stability of the North African region.
Libya
The aim of this visit, which follows that of Mr. Abdulhafid Zlitini, the then Secretary for Economy and Trade of Libya, to Japan in February, is to hold high-level political dialogue to invigorate relations between Japan and Libya, against the background of the suspension of the United Nations Security Council sanctions, which lasted for about seven years, in April last year.

4. The present visit will be the first to Tunisia in eight years and the very first to Libya by a minister-level and vice-minister-level official of Japan. This visit is expected to further deepen friendly relations with each country and open a new page in Japan's diplomacy with North Africa towards the coming century.

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