Saudi Crown Prince postpones Japan trip over King’s health
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Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman had also planned to visit Japan in late 2022, but the trip was cancelled.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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TOKYO – Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman postponed a planned four-day trip to Japan due to concerns over the King’s health, said Japan’s top government spokesman Yoshimasa Hayashi.
The trip set to start on May 20 was to have been the Crown Prince’s first visit to Japan since 2019. Mr Hayashi said at a regular news briefing in Tokyo that the two nations would reschedule the visit, without indicating when.
The kingdom’s de facto ruler was due to meet Prime Minister Fumio Kishida during the trip, according to Japan’s government.
MBS, as the Crown Prince is known, was also expected to meet Japanese companies and sign an agreement to strengthen supply chains for liquid hydrogen, Japanese media reported.
News of the cancellation came after the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported that Prince Mohammed’s father, King Salman bin Abdulaziz, is suffering from inflammation of the lung and will be receiving antibiotics at Al Salam Palace in Jeddah.
The Crown Prince had also planned to visit Japan in late 2022, but the trip was cancelled shortly before he was scheduled to arrive.
Japan and Saudi Arabia have been forging deeper ties in recent years. Mr Kishida travelled to the kingdom in July 2023 and announced the launch of an initiative on green energy projects, including hydrogen and ammonia. He also urged the Crown Prince to increase investment in semiconductors and batteries.
Technology has recently been an emerging area of cooperation, with Saudi Arabia’s wealth fund among the largest shareholders in gaming giant Nintendo. The kingdom’s new investment firm, Alat, is partnering with SoftBank Group to build a fully automated manufacturing and engineering hub to build industrial robots in Riyadh.
Last December, the countries held high-level official meetings, including one between Japan’s Trade Minister Ken Saito and his counterparts, to make progress on a “Saudi-Japan Vision 2030” agreement that is meant to boost investment between the nations.
The cooperation is part of the wider Vision 2030 agenda, Prince Mohammed’s plan to transform the Saudi economy by investing trillions of dollars in everything from tourism to electric vehicles and semiconductors. BLOOMBERG
