(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Both Qatar and Japan can take advantage of each other to provide assistance for Gaza and Syria in many areas such as education, reconstruction and humanitarian assistance, noted the Japanese ambassador, Naoto Hisajima.

Hisajima was interacting with Waleed Ziad, associate professor of History at Georgetown University in Qatar ( GU-Q), after he addressed a gathering at the university as part of GU-Q's“Ambassador Speaker Series.”

“Japan has been continuing its humanitarian assistance for a long time in Palestine and Syria. The reconstruction of the infrastructure will take years in Gaza and Syria. And there are many areas that Japan is good at, particularly, like education and building schools, or health sector and hospitals,” said the ambassador.

“So, there are many opportunities, actually, for Japan to contribute to the reconstruction and humanitarian relief in both Gaza and Syria. And Qatar is obviously a neighbouring state and very active in this region. We know the parties in question very well. So, there are many chances for two countries taking advantage of the strength of each country and supporting Palestine and Syria,” said the ambassador.

During his talk, ambassador Hisajima highlighted the long-standing relationship between Qatar and Japan and prominent areas of collaboration between the countries.

“Japan was the first country to import Qatar's LNG in 1997. And not just Japan importing Qatar's LNG, Japan also co-operated with Qatar to develop Qatar's natural gas resources so that it could be exported to foreign countries,” he highlighted.

“And since then, Qatar has been a longtime stable and reliable supplier and partner for Japan. Other than the relationship regarding natural gas, Japan's co-operation with Qatar in economic areas is particularly seen in the building of various infrastructure. There are some examples as Japan has collaborated with Doha Metro, Hamad International Airport, water desalination projects and both power plants,” he said.

The Japanese envoy also highlighted that the number of visitors from Japan and Qatar is on the rise as there is a steady increase in the number in recent years with Qatar Airways operating daily flights between Japan and Qatar.

“It is such a convenience that we have direct flights between Japan and Qatar. I myself have had the privilege of being on the plane direct from Tokyo to Doha. And there are daily four flights between either Tokyo, Osaka, and Doha,” added the ambassador.
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A display of Japanese martial arts.

The lecture was followed by a 'Japanese Cultural Evening' event, where Japanese food, martial arts, drum performances and several other cultural performances took place Syria humanitarian assistance Naoto Hisajima

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