Japanese Foreign Minister Motegi Toshimitsu begins a nine-day visit to the Middle East and Asia from Saturday. He will travel to Israel, Palestine, Qatar, the Philippines and India.
In the Middle East, Motegi plans to hold talks with top officials of Israel and the Palestinian Authority. He will call for maintaining the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas while steadily implementing a peace plan in the Gaza Strip.
The foreign minister will urge the officials to take concrete action, stressing the need to dispel mutual distrust in order to ease tensions and build peace in the region.
He will also convey Japan’s intention to play an active role.
Motegi noted that Japan maintains good relations with both Israel and Palestine, and said he hopes to tell both sides that they should work to overcome mistrust.
In Asia, Motegi plans to meet with Foreign Affairs Secretary of the Philippines Maria Theresa Lazaro and India’s External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.
Motegi hopes to step up coordination in security and other areas in light of China’s increasing hegemonic actions.
AloJapan.com