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The Foreign Minister of Japan, Nobutake Machimura, will be visiting Israel
between January 16 and 18, as the guest of Deputy Prime Minister and
Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.
Aside from meeting with Foreign Minister Shalom, Nobutake Machimura will
also meet with the President of Israel Moshe Katsav, Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon and Vice Premier Shimon Peres.
This is the first visit of Foreign Minister Machimura to Israel, since he
was appointed to his present position in September 2004. He made two
previous visits to Israel as a member of parliament and Deputy Foreign
Minister.
The visit will focus on the promotion of the positive and extensive
bilateral relations and friendship prevailing between the two countries.
Foreign Minister Machimura and his interlocutors will also discuss the
peace process in the region, as well as other regional and international
issues.
Japan supports Israel's initiative towards peace to one-sidedly evacuate
forty years old Jewish settlements from the Ghaza strip and transfer the
whole area to Palestinian autonomy. All are hopeful that in the
window of opportunities for progress towards peace which opened now after
Arafat's disappearence, Japan can contribute to the peace process by
advising the Palestinians to stop all terror against Israeli civilians.
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