Statement by the Japanese Minister for For. Affairs on the resumption of direct negotiations between Palestine and Israel – Rep. Office of Japan to the PA press release/Non-UN document

Arabic text follows

August 2, 2013

PRESS RELEASE

Statement by the Minister for Foreign Affairs on

the Resumption of Direct Negotiations between

Palestine and Israel

1. Japan sincerely welcomes the resumption of direct negotiations between Israel and Palestine starting from July 29 to July 30 as a result of the vigorous mediation efforts made by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.

2.With regard to the Middle East peace process, when I visited the Middle East last week, I directly called on the Israeli and Palestinian sides to make sincere efforts toward the resumption of peace negotiations. Japan strongly hopes that the direct negotiations that have been initiated can bring about effective progress toward realizing a just, lasting and comprehensive peace in the future based on a "two-state solution".

3. In addition, in order to achieve that, Japan also intends to continue supporting the peace process both politically and economically, including the promotion of the "Corridor for Peace and Prosperity" initiative and the "Conference on Cooperation among East Asian Countries for Palestinian Development (CEAPAD)".

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Representative Office of Japan to the P.A.

VIP2 Center 3rd Floor, Yazoor Street, Al-Bireh

Tel. 02-2413120/1/2 Fax. 02-2413123 repjapan@mofa.go.jp