His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa received, at his Riffa Palace today, the Japanese Foreign Minister, Taro Kono and his accompanying delegation, currently on a visit to Bahrain to take part in the 14th IISS Manama Dialogue.

HRH Premier welcomed the Japanese delegation’s visit to Bahrain, which reflect the distinguished friendship and cooperation relations between the two countries.

The Japanese Foreign Minister conveyed to HRH Premier greetings from his Japanese counterpart, Shinzo Abe, as well as his invitation to him to visit Japan.

The Prime Minister requested the Japanese Minister to convey his greetings to Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, in aaddition to his wishes of further progress and prosperity to friendly Japan.

HRH Premier stressed the keenness of the Kingdom to expand the fields of cooperation between the two friendly countries, especially in the economic, trade and investment sectors, based on the strong ties and mutual respect between them.

The Prime Minister praised Japan's pioneering model of development in all its forms, which, he said, is an inspiring model for many countries in its path of progress and renaissance, expressing hope that the coming phase will witness more joint work that would strengthen the bilateral relations, particularly in the security and economic fields.

The Prime Minister called for intensifying visits between officials of the two friendly countries to discuss means to enhance bilateral cooperation and open up new horizons that serve the common interests.

The Japanese Foreign Minister expressed his sincere thanks and appreciation to HRH the Prime Minister for his interest in developing relations between the two friendly countries, stressing his country's keenness to strengthen its relations with Bahrain in various sectors, lauding Bahrain's progress and development in many fields.

 He stressed Japan's interest in activating the existing agreements between the two countries, especially in the economic and investment fields, and in signing many others.

He said that his country attaches great importance to the security and stability of the region, highlighting its keenness to promote peace in the region and desire to keep it away it away from anything that disturbs it.

Japan respects and appreciates the region given its strong friendship with its countries, he said.

He said that he listened to HRH Premier’s opinions on many issues of interest to the region because of his far-sighted and in-depth analysis.

He praised HRH Premier’s assertion of the kingdom’s keenness to build a real partnership with Tokyo in all fields in light of all the advanced steps in the relations and cooperation between the two countries. .