On Monday, March 5, H.E. Dr. Saad Dine El Otmani, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Kingdom of Morocco, who was visiting Japan as a guest of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda for about 15 minutes from 6:00 p.m. A summary of the meeting is as follows:

1. At the beginning of the meeting, Prime Minister Noda extended his congratulations to Minister El Otmani for having been appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation and also expressed his welcome to Minister El Otmani’s first visit to Japan. Prime Minister Noda also expressed his gratitude for the heartfelt sympathy from the Kingdom of Morocco in the wake of the Great East Japan Earthquake. Minister El Otmani expressed his wish to further deepen the amicable bilateral relations through his visit and also reiterated his heartfelt sympathy to those who were affected by the Great East Japan Earthquake.
   
   
2. Minister El Otmani stated that Morocco would like to maintain stable political conditions through various reforms and also contribute to the stability of the region. Minister El Otmani also expressed his expectation to Japanese enterprises to make further investments to Morocco. In response to this, Prime Minister Noda stated that he appreciates the democratization of Morocco and that Japan would like to continue its support for reforms in Morocco. Prime Minister Noda also stated that he would like to pursue cooperation in the field of energy, including photovoltaic power generation.
   
   
3. Prime Minister Noda and Minister El Otmani shared their concerns over the growing tension and worsening humanitarian conditions in Syria and agreed on working together for improvement of the situation.
   
   
4. Minister El Otmani stated that Morocco would like to actively pursue triangular cooperation to African nations in collaboration with Japan and also cooperate with Japan within the framework of TICAD. Prime Minister Noda stated that he expects cooperation from Morocco in the Fifth Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD V) to be held in Yokohama in 2013.