Japan’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sinkin Sogiura arrived in Damascus late Saturday, coming from Amman, on the third leg of a tour that has already taken him to Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories.
Japanese embassy sources in Damascus told the official Kuwaiti news agency, KUNA, that Sogiura would hold talks with Foreign Minister Farouq Al Shara and other officials on bilateral ties as well as the current situation in the Occupied Territories.
Japan is among the major donor states to Syria, financing a number of development projects in the fields of electricity, water, irrigation and agriculture.
The Japanese official, who will leave for Beirut late Sunday, is the first to visit Syria since the new Japanese government was formed last April.
During his talks with Jordanian Prime Minister Ali Abu Ragheb, the latter stressed that the Group of Eight (G8) industrialized nations could help "restore calm" to the Palestinian territories, said AFP.
"The countries of the G8, including Japan, can play an important role in re-establishing calm in the Palestinian territories and putting an end to Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people," said Abu Ragheb.
The Jordanian prime minister stressed the "need to deploy international observers...to put an end to the violence and allow a resumption of Palestinian-Israeli negotiations," a Jordanian source told the agency.
He called for "international action to ensure protection for the Palestinian people and put an end to the murders they face," the source said.
For his part, Sugiura expressed "Japan's interest in developing the situation in the region, particularly in the Palestinian territories," the same source added.
The Japanese official is on a regional trip embracing Egypt, Israel, the Palestinian territories, Lebanon and Syria – Albawaba.com
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