Riyadh: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe met the King of Saudi Arabia Salman bin Abdulaziz and other officials during his visit to the Kingdom to discuss cooperation between the two countries.
“They reviewed bilateral relations between the two friendly countries and ways of enhancing and developing them,” Efe news agency quoted the Saudi state-run SPA news as saying on Sunday.
Both officials “also reviewed aspects of cooperation in accordance with the Saudi-Japanese Vision 2030”, it added.
The meeting on Sunday addressed cooperation aspects in the fields of tourism, security supplies, artificial intelligence and renewable energy, according to the SPA.
Earlier in the day, Abe met Saudi Foreign Minister Farhan Faisal bin Farhan Al Saud.
They discussed the “bilateral relations and aspects of cooperation as well as the recent developments of the regional and international issues”, an official statement said.
Abe also held a meeting with Saudi Minister of Energy Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz to address the cooperation between both countries in the field of energy as per an official statement.
The Japanese premier arrived in Riyadh as part of a Gulf tour that also includes United Arab Emirates and Oman.
Abe’s visit comes amid tension in the region in the wake of the January 3 US strike that killed top Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani in Baghdad alongside Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis, the deputy leader of the Popular Mobilization Forces, an Iraqi Shia militia.
In retaliation, Iran on January 8 attacked two bases housing US troops in western and northern Iraq.