Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely called, Thursday morning for the opening of negotiations on free trade zone between Israel and Japan during a meeting with Japanese counterpart Keisuke Suzuki. She also called for more Japanese tourism in Israel, given the inauguration of direct El Al flights in March.
On the security front, Hotovely urged Japan to send a tough message to Iranians to cease terrorist policy in the region. She asked all donor countries to follow the United States' path and stop supporting the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for so-called Palestinian refugees, saying the agency perpetuates the Arab-Israeli conflict and does not resolve it.