Japan, Egypt to press Iran on nuclear crisis

CAIRO (AFP) - Japan and Egypt agreed on Wednesday to work together in a bid to end the crisis over Iran's nuclear ambitions and called for a Middle East free of weapons of mass destruction.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe held talks in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on the final leg of a whirlwind tour of five Middle Eastern countries and the United States.

"We are concerned about the situation surrounding the Iranian nuclear issue. I would like to cooperate with your country over the issue," Abe told Mubarak, according to a Japanese official who declined to be named.

The official quoted Mubarak as replying: "If Iran held nuclear weapons, the stability of the region would be in danger. I would like to cooperate with you."

The UN Security Council has imposed sanctions on Iran over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, which Western nations fear is meant to develop nuclear weapons.

In a joint statement, Egypt and Japan said they both "stressed the importance of ... making the Middle East a zone free of weapons of mass destruction."

Arab nations often use the phrase to allude to Israel, which refuses to confirm or deny its widely suspected nuclear arsenal. Egypt has a peace treaty with Israel but has had rocky ties with Iran since its 1979 Islamic revolution.

Japan, the only nation to have suffered atomic attack, is an active campaigner against nuclear weapons and has championed a hard international line against its nuclear-armed neighbour North Korea.

But Japan is also heavily dependent on Middle Eastern oil and has cordial relations with Iran, although last year it slashed its stake in a project to develop the Islamic republic's biggest onshore oilfield citing the nuclear dispute.

Abe, who has called throughout his trip for a relationship with the Middle East that extends beyond oil, agreed with Mubarak to forge a "strategic partnership" to help resolve issues embroiling the region.

Abe invited Mubarak to visit Japan next year when it hosts a conference on African development in Tokyo. The Egyptian president said he would consider attending the meeting, according to the Japanese official.

Mubarak welcomed a 180-strong business delegation accompanying Abe on his tour, hoping that the mission would help boost Japanese investment in Egypt and enhance business ties between the two countries, the official said.

"We are determined to further develop economic ties between Japan and the Middle East, which are about to herald a new era," said Fujio Mitarai, head of the delegation and chairman of Canon.

Abe and Mubarak committed themselves to working for a breakthrough in the Middle East peace process, saying a solution to the conflict was "one of the keys to achieving stability and prosperity" in the region.

Abe's visit came as world diplomats were converging on the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh for a two-day conference on Iraq due to kick off on Thursday.

Japan, which is a leading Iraq donor, will be represented at the conference by Foreign Minister Taro Aso.

Mubarak and Abe said in their joint statement that they "shared the view that national reconciliation is the bedrock for the stabilisation of Iraq and underscored the importance" of the conference.

Japan withdrew its troops from Iraq last year following a reconstruction mission that marked its first deployment to a foreign war zone since World War II but it maintains an air force mission flying personnel and supplies in and out.

During his first summit in the United States last Friday, Abe pressed North Korea to meet promises to dismantle its nuclear drive and release Japanese citizens kidnapped by North Korean agents during the Cold War era.

At a news conference in Cairo, Abe warned that Japan might impose additional sanctions against North Korea if it failed to meet its promises to shut down its nuclear reactor and resolve the abduction issue.

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