Senior officials from Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority held talks Wednesday in Japan in a bid to lay the groundwork for peace by improving the Palestinian economy.
Japan, which is seeking a greater role in the Middle East, hopes the talks will lead to a deal on its signature project in the region -- starting an agro-industrial park in the West Bank.
The proposed project near Jericho "demonstrates an understanding of the relationship between prosperity and ensuring a lasting peace of all of our region," Jordanian Foreign Minister Salah Bashir told reporters at the talks.
But he said the best way to resolve the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict was to deliver on a two-state solution endorsed by a summit last November in Annapolis, near Washington.
"The Palestinian-Israeli conflict is the core issue of the Middle East. If we solve that we have better ability to address the other political challenges but also the prosperity and economic challenges," Bashir said.
Japanese Foreign Minister Masahiko Komura opened talks with the head of the Israeli delegation, Environmental Protection Minister Gideon Ezra, ahead of a four-way meeting with Bashir and Palestinian planning minister Samir Abdullah.
Japan was eager to hold the meeting before it hosts next week's summit of the Group of Eight rich nations, where the Middle East is expected to be on the agenda. Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda was due to join the talks later Wednesday.
But Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni both backed out of making the long trip to Japan, saying the timing was not right due to domestic strife at home.
Japan, the world's second largest economy, has been seeking a higher profile in the Middle East as part of its effort to become a larger player on the global stage.
Wednesday's talks aim to get off the ground a project first proposed by Japan in 2006 to build the complex near Jericho to export fruit and vegetables via Jordan to the Gulf.
Japan hopes that construction can begin early next year on the project and that it would provide badly needed jobs for up to 6,000 Palestinians, a Japanese foreign ministry official said.
But the official said Japan was still working with Israeli authorities, who control security, water resources and Jewish settlements in the region, on the practicalities of starting the project.
The Jordanian foreign minister pressed Israel to stop building settlements, which he said undermined confidence-building between the two nations.
"It is also important to address the issue of movement of natural persons and goods. Both of these elements would... significantly improve the lives of the Palestinians on the ground," Bashir said.
Israeli authorities last month approved a plan to build 40,000 new homes in Jerusalem over the next 10 years, including in the annexed Arab eastern sector of the city.
Japan has portrayed itself as a neutral broker in the Middle East due to its lack of historical ties. But it has long maintained friendly ties with Arab states and Iran on which the resource-poor Asian power depends heavily for oil and gas.
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