Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe landed in the United Arab Emirates on Sunday, the first stop in a trip across the Middle East that will also take him to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories.
Before leaving Japan, Abe told journalists working for Middle East peace would be a priority on his trip.
"I intend to work for the Middle East peace process by engaging with both Israel and Palestine in a constructive manner," Abe said, according to the Kyodo news agency.
On Sunday, Japanese Foreign Minister Tara Kono presided over a rare meeting of Israeli, Palestinian and Jordanian officials in Jordan with the aim of pushing ahead on a plan to build a collaborative agro-industrial park and enhance cross-border trade and cooperation.
Kono acknowledged late Sunday that it "has not been easy for the four parties to get together under current circumstances."
Among those in attendance at Sunday's meeting were Israel's Economy Minister Eli Cohen, Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riad Malki and Jordan's Planning Minister Imad Fakhoury.
Officials from Israel and the Palestinian Authority meet only intermittently, and Israel and Jordan only recently patched up relations after a months-long diplomatic crisis that began when a security guard at the Israeli embassy in Jordan shot and killed two Jordanian civilians, alleging one had attacked him with a screwdriver.
The Israeli guard and Israel's then-ambassador were given a hero's welcome by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, infuriating Jordan, which contended that the victims were innocent bystanders.
Sunday's meeting focused on the Japan-backed Jericho Agro-Industrial Park in the West Bank, near an Israeli-controlled border with Jordan.
Twelve companies operate at the park, launched more than a decade ago. Kono says he hopes more will join, including Japanese firms.
In Abu Dhabi, Abe met first with a crucial oil supplier for his energy-hungry nation.
Abe flew into Abu Dhabi, the country's oil-rich capital, with plans to meet powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and other officials.
About a quarter of Japan's oil imports come from the UAE, a federation of seven sheikhdoms on the Arabian Peninsula, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. A third comes from Saudi Arabia, while a fifth of all its natural gas imports come from Qatar and the UAE, making peace across the Gulf Arab nations crucial to Japanese energy supplies.
