JEDDAH — The Consulate-General of Japan held a National Day Reception to celebrate the 82th birthday of Japanese Emperor Akihito at the residence of Consul-General of Japan Matahiro Yamaguchi in Jeddah. Celebration this year coincides with the 60th anniversary of the establishing of the diplomatic relations between our two countries. The reception was attended by Dr. Mohammed Al-Awlaki, minister plenipotentiary and director general of diplomatic and consular affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Makkah Region Branch) and director general of protocol department, in the presence of Consuls General, Saudi businessmen and media figures in addition to Japanese community in the West region. A group of the Japanese children from the Japanese International School sang the national anthems of Japan and Saudi Arabia. They impressed the audience with their perfect and beautiful performance. After the national anthems of the two countries, Yamaguchi delivered a speech in which he welcomed the guests and stressed on the excellent relationships between Japan and the Kingdom in various aspects of cooperation. "Japan and Saudi Arabia enjoy deep friendship relations based on the mutual respect and appreciation between the Japanese Imperial family and the Saudi royal family," the Consul General said. He added that Japan is always ready to assist more in the fields of renewable energy, water, infrastructure, metro and railway projects and all development projects needed by the Kingdom. He congratulated the leaders and people of the two friendly countries on the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, hoping that the mutual relations increase to a significantly higher level and lead the two countries into an era of expanded cooperation hitherto beyond imagination and that Saudi Arabia will witness giant leaps in achieving development, progress and prosperity under the leadership of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, Crown Prince and Deputy Crown Prince. Later Dr. Al-Awlaki, and Yamaguchi took some pictures. Some Japanese cars companies participated at the event by showing their luxury 2016 model cars.
