The crown prince of Saudi Arabia has postponed an official visit scheduled for this week to Japan “due to the health condition” of his father, King Salman, the Japanese government spokesman announced this Monday.
Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to Japan, announced on May 10 and which was scheduled to begin this Monday and run until Thursday, “will be organized again between the two countries“, declared Yoshimasa Hayashi, at a press conference.
According to a Saudi source, cited this Monday by the news agency France-Pressdespite the absence of the crown prince, the visit of members of the delegation that would accompany Mohammed bin Salman will go ahead as scheduled.
King Salman, 88, suffers from a lung infection and is receiving medical treatment, including antibiotics, the royal court of Saudi Arabia announced on Sunday.
Mohammed bin Salman’s first trip to Japan since 2019 was an opportunity for Riyadh and Tokyo to step up now important economic relationsespecially not energy domain.
Japan imports around 40% of its oil from Saudi Arabia and has sought to develop large-scale production of hydrogen and ammonia in the Gulf, two gases on which Tokyo is investing heavily for its energy transition.
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Riyadh is also very interested in the Japanese video game industry, one of the pillars of the strategy Vision 2030 of the Saudi kingdom to diversify the economy away from fossil fuels and improve its international image.
Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund currently holds more than 8% of the capital of the Japanese video game and console company Nintendo.
Source: https://observador.pt/2024/05/20/principe-herdeiro-saudita-adia-visita-ao-japao-face-a-problemas-de-saude-do-rei/
