1.	The twelfth meeting of the Overseas Economic Cooperation Council was held on December 12, from 8:20 to 8:50; Prime Minister, Chief Cabinet Secretary, Minister for Foreign Affairs, Minister of Finance, Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, and Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology attended the meeting and discussed under the subject "Economic Cooperation for the Middle East."
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2.	The points discussed in the meeting were as follows: (1) Contributing to the region's stability including among others the Middle East Peace Process; (2) Strengthening bilateral relationships with oil producing countries in the Gulf region which have high GNI per capita.
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3.	With regard to the Middle East Peace Process, it is important to support to the maximum extent the Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiation, the resumption of which was agreed in the Annapolis Conference on the Middle East Peace�@Process. From this point of view, it was agreed that Japan will announce an adequate amount of aid commensurate with its responsibilities in global affairs in the Conference of Donors for the Palestinian Territories on December 17. It was also agreed that parties concerned would work closely for making the concept of "Corridor for peace and prosperity" successful.
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4.	As to strengthening bilateral relations with oil producing countries in the Gulf region which are no longer eligible for ODA, it was agreed that Japan will (a) promote cooperation especially in the field of education, industrial promotion, and human resources development, by combining various financial instruments such as Special Account for Energy Policy, JBIC's OOF, and trade insurance; and (b) make efforts for strengthening relations in trade and investment.