I. Overview

The Japan-Arab Economic Forum was established as a framework for ministerial level dialogue by uniting efforts of the Government of Japan and Japan’s business community in cooperation with the League of Arab States (LAS) and its members, for the purpose of further enhancing the economic relationship between Japan and Arab states through cooperation in a wide range of areas including trade, investment, energy, science and technology, and human resource development.

Arab states are now endeavoring to diversify their economies and industries as their major challenge and are calling on Japan to expand economic relations with the entire Arab region. This is a big chance for Japanese companies to expand their business. Through holding this forum, it is expected that Japan's presence and communication capacity will be strengthened in the Arab region and this will eventually contribute to the enforcement of Japan's economic diplomacy, or resource diplomacy, in particular.

The First and Second meetings of the Japan-Arab Economic Forum were successfully held in Tokyo in 2009 and in Tunis in 2010, respectively. Both meetings witnessed more than 1000 participants from each Japanese and Arab side including ministers, officials and business people.

II. Outline of the Forum

1Date

December 16 (Monday) - 17 (Tuesday), 2013

2Venue

Hotel Name : The Prince Park Tower Tokyo

Address : 4-8-1 Shiba-koen, Minato-ku, Tokyo, 105-8563 Japan

Phone : +81-(0)3-5400-1111

Access : http://www.princehotels.com/en/parktower/map-direction

3Structure for holding the forum and expected participants

On the Japanese side, officials from the Government of Japan and government-related organizations, as well as people involved in private organizations, will unite their efforts to hold the forum, including the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA), Keidanren, and the Japan Cooperation Center for the Middle East (JCCME).

On the Arab side, ministers from the LAS member countries who are in charge of either foreign affairs, industry, trade, economy or energy, as well as heads of economic associations, including chairmen of the chambers of commerce across the LAS, will participate in and exchange views in the forum.

4Expences

Participation fee is free.

Participants are kindly requested to bear the costs of their own flights, accommodation, transportation and other expenses during their stay in Japan.

5Inquiries:

Inquiries concerning Program and Details

The 3rd Japan-Arab Economic Forum Secretariat (c/o JCCME)

Tel: +81-3-3237-6722E-mail: jaef@jccme.or.jp