Channels

Photo: Yaron Brener
Shimon Peres, representing Israel?
Photo: Yaron Brener
Taro Aso and Tzipi Livni in Tokyo
Photo: AP

Japan to host 4-way summit

Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian officials to meet next month in Tokyo in hopes of promoting peace

TOKYO - A four-way summit including Israeli, Palestinian, Jordanian and Japanese representatives is set to take place next month in Tokyo, announced Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso on Tuesday.

 

The summit will take place on March 14, one day after Israeli Vice Premier Shimon Peres is scheduled to arrive in Japan to meet with Aso. Official Israeli and Japanese sources refused to confirm whether the two events were related.

 

Unofficial reports in Japan however, confirmed that Peres would indeed be representing Israel in the meeting. President Mahmoud Abbas' advisor Saeb Erekat will represent the Palestinians, and one of King Abdullah's senior advisors will represent Jordan.

 

As host of the summit, Aso said he hopes the meeting will pave the way for reestablishing trust and opening communication channels between the parties.

 

"Peace is necessary for stability in the Middle East, and Japan wants to play its part in international efforts to reach it," he said.

 

In his visit to Israel last summer, former Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi proposed the "Corridor for peace and prosperity", a joint Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian industrial project which Japan would help fund. 

 

The purpose of this endeavour was to promote cooperation in the region. 

 

Soon after the second Lebanon war broke out, and the plan was set aside, this upcoming summit hopes to revive such plans.

 

Concerns over nuclear weapons 

Ending a two-day official visit in Tokyo on Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Ministry Director General Aaron Abramovich told Ynet that the main purpose of his visit was to strengthen strategic dialogue between Israel and Japan, as was decided in Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni's visit to Tokyo last month.

 

Abramovich said one of the topics addressed in his visit was the intensification of radical Islam in the Middle East and south-east Asia, and stressed that the most important topic on the agenda was the comparison between Iranian and North Korean nuclear activity.

 

"They presented their concerns, and we presented ours," he said.

 


פרסום ראשון: 02.27.07, 17:35
 new comment
Warning:
This will delete your current comment