10 June, 2008 5:04 PM

Newsletter No. 133
December 6, 2005

 

KING ABDALLAH TO VISIT TOKYO

It has suddenly been announced that King Abdallah II of Jordan will visit Japan later this week. He is scheduled to be in Japan from December 8th to December 10th.

He will meet both the Emperor and PM Koizumi and will “exchange views on wide-ranging issues including bilateral relations and regional issues such as the Middle East peace process and Iraq.”

MOFA also notes that this is the seventh visit of the king to Japan, the fourth since he assumed the throne. His last visit was a year ago, December 2004.

Japan and Jordan have pretty strong relations as far as I know. On the Iraq issue and on the Arab-Israeli peace issue, they have many points in common. Japan assists the economic development of Jordan, and Amman provided some kind of help to Japan during the April 2004 hostage crisis in Iraq.

Since we know that PM Koizumi is planning to visit Israel next month, we may assume that some of their discussions will touch on related issues.

I’m surprised that this visit was announced only a couple of days ahead of time. Was it arranged quickly, or was that just for security reasons? I don’t know.

 
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