JEDDAH — Japanese Consul-General Masayuki Miyamoto held a reception at his residence here on Thursday to celebrate the birthday of the Emperor. A number of officials, businessmen and friends from Saudi Arabia, Japan and other countries attended. Miyamoto gave a speech at the reception in which he mentioned that Emperor Naruhito ascended the throne on May 1, 2019, and became the 126th Emperor. On the 23rd of this month, Emperor Naruhito turned 60 years old. The Emperor and the imperial family of Japan have a close and friendly bonds of respect and appreciation with the Saudi royal family. Consul-General referred to the visit by Prime Minister Abe to the Kingdom last month and met with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman. They discussed the close cooperation between the two countries to ensure the success of the G20 meetings chaired by the Kingdom this year. He emphasized that Japan and the Kingdom are working together to achieve the goals of “Saudi Vision 2030” through Joint Group established for this purpose, by which the fruitful cooperation between the two countries over more than 60 years in political, economic, social, cultural and academic fields has further expanded. At the end of his speech, Consul-General hoped that the relations of both countries will further develop toward what their leaders and people aspire to and that Saudi Arabia will develop more under the leadership of King Salman and Crown Prince Muhammad. — SG