Saudi Arabia will spare no effort to accommodate Japanese investors, visiting Prince Salman Bin Abdulaziz said April 24.
The prince, a brother of Saudi King Fahd Abdulaziz, said investment from Japan is welcome not only in the oil industry but in all business fields, including construction and high-tech development, emphasizing the stability of public safety and Saudia Arabia's loose restrictions over international money remittances. "I'm not saying that we need financial assistance. What we need is (business) cooperation that would benefit both countries," the 62-year-old prince told a Tokyo news conference before his flight home at noon April 24.
Touching on the country's stability, he said that King Fahd, who underwent emergency gallbladder surgery in March, has "recovered" and is devoting himself to "business as usual."
The prince had been in Japan since Monday under an exchange program of leading figures from both countries. The program was initiated last year by Prime Minister Ryutaro Hashimoto as a long-term plan to secure Japan's oil supply for the next century.
Saudi Arabia is the second-largest supplier of crude oil to Japan following the United Arab Emirates. Saudi Arabia accounts for 25 percent of the world's total reserves of oil and gas.