Japan-Palestine Relations
Foreign Minister Kono Visits JAIP
On December 26th, from 10:40 local time for approximately 70 minutes, H.E. Mr. Taro Kono, Minister for Foreign Affairs, visited Jericho Agro-Industrial Park (JAIP), a flagship project of the “Corridor for Peace and Prosperity” initiative. The overview is as follows.
1. The Palestinian side explained to Minister Kono the current situation in JAIP, where 37 companies signed lease agreements with the Park, and 8 companies started their operations.
2. After that, the opening ceremony for the kickoff of the phase 2 was held, and over 100 Palestinian people, including high ranking officials such as H.E. Dr. Rami Hamdallah, Prime Minister of Palestine, H.E. Ms. Abeer Odeh, Minister of National Economy, the Mayor of Jericho city, and leaders of local enterprises participated there.
3. In the ceremony, Minister Kono gave a speech (English (PDF)
/ Japanese (PDF)) to announce grade-up strategy of the “Corridor for Peace and Prosperity” initiative, and expressed Japan’s commitment to work on assistance in ICT sector and facilitation of logistics, and stated that as part of support for Palestine, the Japanese government has decided to extend approximately 40 million US dollars, including 7.5 million US dollars to JAIP.
4. Then, Prime Minister Hamdallah made a speech to express his sincere gratitude and high evaluation to Japan’s support so far, stressing that JAIP will contribute to Palestine’s sustainable and strong economic development. Also, he stated that Palestine would make efforts to work on simplifying administrative procedures, encouraging investments and creating new opportunities for investement.
5. Minister Kono and Prime Minister Hamdallah unveiled the cornerstone in honor of inauguration of JAIP phase 2.
6. Finally, Minister Kono visited Palolea Company, the 1st company which started operation in JAIP.
