The Japanese government agreed to enhance its cooperation on technical curriculum through Japan Cooperation Center for the Middle East (JCCME) in the second academic year of SEHAI, providing a series of Japan-made tools and equipment which consist of 64 different items. The move on SEHAI is a manifestation of further cooperation as JCCME and Nippon Engineering College (NEEC) already prepared curriculum and textbooks and at the same time dispatched three Japanese specialists under the support of Japanese government. A ceremony to deliver the tools and equipment was held on July 26 in Tokyo. In attendance were Salim Al Asmarei, head of SEHAI-Saudi Working Group; Dr. Abdullah Abdul-Kareem, managing director of Al-Essa (Hitachi's agent); and Abdulla Alshammari, acting Ambassador, Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia in Japan from Saudi side, and Teruhiko Mashiko, senior Vice Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI); Hiroshi Saito, co-chairman of Japan-Saudi Arabia Business Council; and Iwao Okamoto, president of JCCME from the Japanese side, along with other dignitaries. The tools and equipment, mainly comprised of the high-standard Japan-made measuring apparatus, will surely improve the quality of SEHAI curriculums. Al Asmarei said “as SJAHI (Saudi Japanese Automobile High Institute, the technical institute specialized in automobile repairing and maintenance which was also established under the cooperation of the Japanese government, is reaping high reputation, I am confident that it will surely bring another success in SEHAI.” SEHAI, opened on Sept. 26, 2009, is a technical training institute specializing in repairing and maintenance works of electronics and home appliances, which was established by Japan- Saudi Arabia Joint Task Force. It is a joint project that symbolizes the new mutually-beneficial cooperative relationship between Saudi Arabia and Japan, following SJAHI in Jeddah and HIPF (Higher Institute for Plastics Fabrication) in Riyadh. Mashiko noted the “sincere demand for human development in the Kingdom,” and “hope that this cooperation will contribute to the improvement of quality of studies in SEHAI in the long term.” __