Japan's foreign minister starts a visit to Qatar

Japan's foreign minister Yuhi Kono has expressed upon his arrival in Doha on Tuesday in an official visit which will last for two days, his concern over the deteriorated of conditions in the Palestinian territories. he explained that Tokyo offered aids estimated at US $ 4.3 million to the Palestinians since the beginning of confrontations with the Israeli army by the end of September, 2000.

In a statement issued on Tuesday by the Qatari daily al-Raya, Kono added he will hold talks with high ranking Qatari officials dealing with bilateral relations between the two countries and means of backing them as well as issues of mutual concern.

He added that his tour will cover other three Gulf states which are the United Arab Emirates UAE, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia and will concentrate on strengthening relations with the oil states in the region, the main trade partners for Tokyo.

He indicated that Japan imports from Doha 70% of crude oil and natural gas exports and that the volume of trade exchange between it and the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council GCC reached US $ 32 billion in 1999.