Press Releases

1. On November 15, commencing at 10:20 a.m. for approximately 30 minutes, Parliamentary Senior Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs Nobuo Kishi received a courtesy call from the Invitation Program for Middle East Peace delegation (five Israelis and five Palestinians). The delegation has been visiting Japan since November 10.

2. Vice-Minister Kishi explained that this Joint Invitation Program is a unique initiative, in that Israelis and Palestinians are jointly invited to share experiences together under the program. He mentioned that from this year the number of people invited under the program was doubled to 10, in order to have more Israelis and Palestinians visit Japan. Vice-Minister Kishi said he wants the participants to utilize the experiences and trust acquired over the course of their stay in Japan this week to build a peaceful and prosperous future.

3. The program participants said they are grateful to the Government of Japan for preparing a meaningful program, and that they have been able to enjoy enlightening experiences in Japan. Among the comments the participants made was that they realized through actually visiting Japan that there is no other country in the world like Japan, which has been able to overcome difficulties in the past such as the suffering of the Great East Japan Earthquake.

4. In addition to the above, Vice-Minister Kishi and the participants exchanged views on the situation in East Asia, the Japanese economy and others.