In June 2004, H.E. Mr. Habib Ben Yahia, Foreign Minister of Tunisia at the time, suggested the organization of a Japan-Arab Economic Forum when he visited Japan, and in September 2005, the Foreign Ministers’ Conference of the League of Arab States adopted a resolution that officially proposed to establish the forum. After detailed discussions, Japan and the League of Arab States agreed to hold the forum with the objective of strengthening mutual economic relations between Japan and the Arab countries through cooperation in a wide range of areas including trade, investment, energy, technology, and human resource development.