Jeddah energy conference discusses price hikes, means to address them

Meeting attended by representatives of 36 states, 7 NGOs

King Abdullah: Bidders' tampering with market, consumption spree, taxes behind unjustifiable price hike

Saudi monarch in conference: $500 million in soft loans to finance developing nations' projects

Saudi oil minister says nothing justifying obsessions about low oil offers, world has enough oil for decades

The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz patronized the Jeddah Energy Meeting, which is attended by representatives of 36 oil producing and consuming countries, seven international organizations, and a number of big oil companies at the world level.

The inaugural ceremony was attended by Prince Misha'al bin Abdulaziz, the Head of the Allegiance Commission, and Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz, the Deputy Premier, Defense and Aviation Minister and Inspector General.

The King was welcomed by Prince Khalid al-Faisal, the Governor of Makkah region, and a number of princes and senior officials.

King Abdullah shook hands with Chinese Vice-President Xi Jinping and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

Then, the King addressed the meeting. Following is his speech:

"In the name of Allah, most gracious, most merciful,

Thanks to Allah Almighty, peace be upon Prophet Mohammed, his relatives, and companions. Assalam alaikum wa rahmatullah wa barakatu.

I would like to welcome and thank you for attending this important meeting in response to our invitation, and I consider your attendance reflects your feeling with the responsibility and the importance of international cooperation in the topic of energy which concerns all nations of the world, and I wish you every success.

Our invitation has not come from void, and the policy of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia since the establishment of OPEC was based on adopting a fair price for petroleum in a manner that doesn't harm either the producers or the consumers.

We were keen on preserving the interests of the entire world as we are keen on preserving our national interests, and for that policy we faced so many attacks and we accepted a lot of harm due to that.

Starting from this policy, we have been allocating a great part of our income for the development assistance, and starting from the same policy we in the last few months increased our daily production of petroleum from nine million barrels to 9,700,000 barrels and we are ready to meet any additional requirements in the future.

Brothers and sisters: there is a group of elements for the quick and unjustified increase of petroleum prices in the recent time. They include the frivolity of the speculators in the market for selfish interests; the increase of consumption in a number of rising economies, increasing taxes on petroleum in a number of consuming countries.

Despite these facts and despite that OPEC has not issued a decision for pricing since many decades, and left the issue of price to the market, and despite its keenness on meeting the increasing demand, yet we find some people accusing OPEC alone.

The King said "In the light of this, your great mission becomes clear, which is the disclosing of the truth.

Your mission is to rule out biased rumors and to reach the real causes for the increase in price, and how to treat with that development clearly and transparently, and to disclose the outcome to the entire world's nations, so as not to treat the innocent with the behavior of the wrongdoer, and only then the truth will survive.

Brothers and sisters:

The Kingdom, realizing its historical role in the field of energy, and the importance of the international cooperation in the energy affairs, and the necessity of assisting the poor nations in these difficult circumstances when they are suffering from the hike in prices of all commodities, and food commodities in particular, I would be pleased to announce from here in the name of the Kingdom the following:

Firstly: I call for launching the initiative of 'energy for the poor' and its aim is to enable the developing countries to confront the increasing cost of energy; and I call on the World Bank to organize a meeting as soon as possible for the donor countries and regional and international financial institutions to discuss and activate this initiative.

Secondly: I call upon the Ministerial Council of OPEC Fund for international development to meet and consider the approval of a parallel program for the previous one with continual characteristic, and I propose an allocation of U.S. $1 billion for this program.

Thirdly: I announce the readiness of the Kingdom to contribute to financing the two mentioned programs within a framework to be agreed upon.

Fourthly: I announce the allocation of U.S. $500 million for soft loans through the Saudi Fund for Development for financing projects which help the developing countries to obtain energy and finance development projects which they are in need.

The King said "Fifthly: I ask your meeting to form a working group of countries and organizations which participated in this meeting under the umbrella of the General Secretariat of the International Energy Forum. The working group shall follow up and implement recommendations to be issued by this conference in addition to monitoring developments in the oil market. I announce the Kingdom's readiness to support the working group with all human and material potentials so that it can carry out its mission successfully.

Dear brothers and sisters:

In this critical hour, the international community must rise to the level of responsibility; cooperation must be the cornerstone of any effort; and we all must have a comprehensive, profound and humanitarian vision in our perspective of the present and future. Such a vision shall be liberated from selfishness and shall transcend to horizons of fraternity and solidarity and this is the secret of success. Wa salam alaikum wa rahmat Allah wa barakatu."

Following that, the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown delivered a speech in which he thanked the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia for inviting him to participate in Jeddah Energy Meeting.

He called upon the countries participating in the meeting to find a new way to stabilize oil market in the world and secure future demand for this vital and important commodity, pointing out that oil market conditions are sometimes characterized by instability and therefore it is necessary to find a way to overcome it.

The Prime Minister urged exporting and consuming countries to cooperate in a joint work in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy to solve this problem by reducing the demand on this commodity at least in part.

He also stressed the rationalization of energy, considering it as one of the most important factors that lead to a reduction in oil prices in addition to reducing the prices of oil transportation so that they go down to about 40 per cent of its current cost in the next few years.

He stressed the need for concerted global effort, diversifying sources of energy and not relying on traditional sources alone, which gives petroleum exporting countries the opportunity to maintain their reserves of oil for future generations.

He pointed out that the UK pursues an open policy characterized by transparency in dealing with investments in energy.

All we need in the world oil market is stability in oil prices. Petroleum exporting countries should open the way for large investments in oil and allow consuming countries to take advantage of them, he said.

We'll also examine the financial factors and their impact on the stability of oil market. The World Bank should effectively participate in mitigating the limit on the developing countries and countries which are unable to cope with these prices. This is a global problem and should not be dealt with individually, he added.

The Prime Minister asserted the importance of the intervention of political leaders in the concerned countries as well as the importance of concerting their efforts to find solutions to that issue.

Following that, Vice-President of the People's Republic of China Xi Jinping delivered a speech in which he expressed pleasure of participating in this conference in response to an invitation of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, commending the efforts made by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to prepare and arrange this conference.

Recent days witnessed a huge increase in oil prices which in turn affected global economy and raised widespread interest. The current situation is a difficult challenge for producing and consuming countries alike, he said.

He said that this challenge shall be confronted by joint efforts by the producing and consuming countries, promoting dialogue and cooperation among them and taking appropriate actions to curb price increase.

He pointed out that this conference which is held in an appropriate time allows all of us to find ways for stabilizing world oil markets in terms of production, supply and consumption.

He stressed that energy is a global issue and it is an urgent need for all countries to ensure its security. In this context, the international community must devote the concept of energy security, which is based on mutual benefit, diversifying energy sources and joint cooperation among countries.

He noted that strengthening cooperation between producer and consumer countries is achieved through dialogue, consultation and coordination in the field of energy policy. He stressed the need to exert efforts to ensure political stability in producing countries, maintain natural order of world energy markets, limit excessive speculation, secure ways for international energy and form a balanced long-term system.

Following that, heads of delegations, organizations and companies shook hands with the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques.

Memorial photos were taken on this occasion.

The ceremony was attended by Prince Mit'eb bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs; Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz, Interior Minister; Prince Faisal bin Turki bin Abdulaziz Al Saud; Prince Bandar bin Khalid bin Abdulaziz; Prince Saud Al-Faisal, Minister of Foreign Affairs; Prince Abdul-Ilah bin Abdulaziz; Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz, Deputy Governor of Riyadh Region; Prince Khalid bin Faisal bin Saad; Prince Abdullah bin Turki bin Abdulaziz Al Saud; Prince Mohammed bin Saad bin Abdulaziz, Adviser to Interior Minister; Prince Miqren bin Abdulaziz, Chief of General Intelligence; and a number of princes, ministers and senior officials.

Meanwhile, Ali bin Ibrahim Al-Naimi, Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources, welcomed the audience at Jeddah Energy Meeting and thanked them for accepting the kind invitation of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud to discuss and deliberate the current prevailing oil prices which affect oil producers and consumers, governmental, intergovernmental bodies, private sector entities, national and international oil companies, and organizations and institutions from beyond the realm of petroleum.

In a key speech at the conference, Al-Naimi said: "Given the vital importance of petroleum to modern life, the global nature of the oil markets and the far-ranging social, political and economic impacts of high prices and market volatility, we all have a stake in this conversation.

After all, current market conditions are in the interest of neither producers nor consumers, and none of us can be content with the status quo".

He added: "A year ago prices were in the range of $65 a barrel, now, they are almost double that. What has happened during this relatively short period of time? Between the second quarter of 2007 and the second quarter of 2008, global demand rose by an estimated 800,000 to 1.2 million barrels per day, but at the same time global oil supplies rose between 1.4 and 1.6 million barrels per day - substantially more than the increase in demand.

Accordingly, days of forward cover increased from roughly 52 to 54 days during the last 12 months, and inventory levels are currently well within their normal range".

Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources went to say: "And yet we have seen this enormous run-up in prices, coupled with wide price swings - as you recall, earlier this month WTI prices spiked nearly 11 dollars in a single trading session, despite the fact there was no major disruption of supplies or one-day spike in demand.

Clearly something other than supply-demand fundamentals is at work here, and a simplistic focus on supply expansion is therefore unlikely to tame the current price behavior".

He drew the attention to the fact that: "Concerns over long-term supply shortages seem to be playing a role in strong futures prices, though I believe these concerns are badly misplaced. The world has enough petroleum resources, both conventional and non-conventional, to meet oil demand for many, many decades to come, even before we factor in future technological advances which will enable us to produce our resource base even more effectively. Of course, there is systematic decline in Japan's petroleum consumption and the long-term price elasticity of demand; there are also downward pressures on demand which must be considered, notwithstanding demand growth in developing nations such as China and India.

Al-Naimi clarified that "What is required over the long-term is not more oil in the ground, but rather the assets to bring it to the surface, to process it, and to supply it to markets around the world. The Kingdom for its part is providing those assets through its vast integrated investment program all along the value chain".

He added that "Our industry is experiencing stretched refining capacity worldwide, and a number of infrastructure bottlenecks around the globe are creating difficulties. Just as importantly, a shortage of complex conversion capacity to process heavy sour crudes, coupled with increasingly stringent and varied refined product specification, are also causing pain for consumers at the pump".

He pointed out that "Our industry has navigated such rough waters in the past without witnessing the kind of price rises and market volatility that have brought us together today.

Looking at the data that are in front of us, studying the best forecasts we have of future supply and demand trends, and considering my previous discussions with many of you, I have reached a number of conclusions about the current market situations - a set of beliefs based on facts, if you will.

First, as I noted earlier I believe that there has been a parting of the ways when it comes to oil supply-demand balances and other industry fundamentals on the one hand, and the price behavior and market volatility on the other.

Industry fundamentals cannot account for today's high prices, nor for the enormous degree of market volatility that we have experienced of late.

Instead, I believe price rises and volatility are being fueled by a wide range of other factors which lie beyond the ability of the petroleum industry to address or even influence. Perhaps foremost among these are recent trends in the global financial markets, including weak equity and bond markets that have encouraged investors to move their capital into commodities like oil.

I would also note that while there is little or no correlation over the past two years between global crude oil inventories and crude oil prices, there has been a strong correlation between the increasing volumes of crude oil futures trade on the NYMEX and rising prices. According to many observers and analysts, inadequate oversight, regulation and reporting of speculative investments in commodities have further exacerbated this situation".

Al-Naimi asserted that Saudi Arabia has a historical commitment to market stability and for that reason, as a matter of policy, he said, we have maintained spare production capacity at high cost to the Kingdom. As you know, we have readily employed this spare capacity in the past whenever the market has justified its use.

In today's environment, I am convinced that supply and demand balances and crude oil production levels are not the primary drivers of the current market situation and that markets are already well supplied. But despite this assessment, I also strongly believe that each of us must do what we can to alleviate these difficult conditions. Therefore, given our current spare capacity, today I would like to state that for the remainder of this year Saudi Arabia is prepared and willing to produce additional barrels of crude oil above and beyond the 9.7 million barrels per day which we plan to produce during the month of July, if demand for such quantities materializes and our customers tell us they are needed".

Al-Naimi added: "Although we already have the ability to sustain our production comfortably at increased levels for many more years, Saudi Arabia will continue to implement its slate of new crude oil increments, with projects that will see the Kingdoms' maximum sustained production capacity rise to 12.5 million barrels per day by the end of next year.

This will enable us to continue to maintain our spare capacity in the interest of global market stability- which is in everyone's interest.

In addition, we have identified a series of future crude oil mega-increments totaling another 2 1/2 million barrels per day of capacity that could be built if and when crude oil demand levels warrant their development. Among these prospective programs are a 900,000 barrels-per-day increment in Zuluf, a 700,000 barrels-per-day increment in Safaniyah, a 300,000 barrels-per-day increment in Berri, a 300,000 barrels-per-day increment in Khurais and a 250,000 barrels-per-day increment in Shaybah".

He went on to say that "At the same time, Saudi Arabia will press ahead with our planned investments in the refining sector, which over the next five years total some 2 million barrels per day of new refining capacity both in-Kingdom and abroad. Later this evening, in fact, Saudi Aramco and Total of France will sign a shareholders agreement for their 400,000 barrels-per-day export-oriented refinery in Jubail - a facility which will be configured to process Arab Heavy crude, and will therefore help to close the gab between existing refinery configurations and the global crude oil slate.

These are massive investments, which over the next five years will total some 129 billion dollars between the upstream and downstream segments of the industry. As the old phrase says, we're putting our money where our mouth is. Keeping with its longstanding policies, the Kingdom has undertaken these projects and investments in the interest of global markets and in order to meet the needs of consumers around the world- and we view our responsibilities and commitments as energy suppliers as a solemn trust.

Saudi Arabia is making these investments in the belief and with expectation that other countries, corporations and institutions will also do their part to meet the multifaceted challenges posed by the current market situation, and will intensify their efforts just as we continue to strengthen our investments, capacities and operations. In light of my earlier discussion, we strongly believe that actions by consuming nations in several important areas could play a pivoted role in complementing our efforts to collectively and effectively address the prevailing market situation.

Considering the complexity of the issues that I have outlined, there are many initiatives that would go a long way toward meeting our common objectives. Of these, I would like to highlight the following:

* First, through well considered changes in a range of national and international policies, help create an enabling and stable environment in which investments and expansions would flourish across the petroleum supply chain.

* Second, further to the recent agreement involving the oversight of ICE Europe Futures, consider other appropriate regulator, oversight and reporting enhancement to help dampen irresponsible financial speculation.

* Third, suitably relax product specifications and fuels mandates to make more products available, using the available refinery configurations and capacity from available crude oil supplies.

*Fourth, we urge everyone to help bring down the political temperature that has played a part in causing oil price spikes.

* Fifth, to help provide quick relief to consumers at the pump, consider suitable reduction of taxes on oil products".

In conclusion, he urged all participants in the meeting to stand up, step up and be part of the solution.

"The challenges before us require commitment, cooperation, and a lot of courage, the issues at stake are too big and too complex for any one entity to resolve, for any one sector of our industry to tackle alone, and not even for the oil industry as a whole to take on single-handled. Instead, we must commit to working together and to aligning the efforts of all stakeholders to achieve our common objectives. By so doing, we have an opportunity to resolve the current market difficulties, and thus to promote sustained growth for the global economy, greater prosperity for our nations, and a brighter future for all of our people. Let us not allow that opportunity to slip from our grasp", he pointed out.

The following communiqué was issued by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, the Secretariat General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Secretariat General of the International Energy Forum and the Secretariat General of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC):

At the invitation of the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, under the auspices of the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, ministers and representatives from many oil producing and consuming countries and observers from the oil industry in the world met in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, on Sunday June 22, 2008 to discuss the current situation of the petroleum market.

The participants expressed concern over the sharp oil price rise and continuous volatility as a result of a combination of factors and reasons.

They sought to identify the causes that led to the current price increases in the market and the outcome resulting from them and made a series of proposals designed to improve the current situation in order to enable the world oil markets work effectively.

Participants also stressed that oil prices and the current state of instability and volatility in the market, do harm the global economy, particularly the least developed economies.

They agreed that the current situation requires intensive efforts of all concerned parties in all the producing and consuming countries, oil industry sectors and other involved parties in order to achieve stability in the world oil market to the benefit of everyone.

Taking into consideration the diversified national circumstances and priorities in their countries along to their common interest in stabilizing the world oil market and achieving sustained economic growth, the participants have acknowledged the importance of following points:

-- The presence of reserve production capacity in all phases of oil industry is vital and very important in order to stabilize the world oil market. Accordingly, the investments in all sectors of oil industry, such as petroleum exploration, production, refining and marketing must be increased in order to supply global markets with sufficient quantities of oil as required.

Also other factors such as expectations relating to energy policy and investment in addition to ideal obtaining of technology are important and necessary factors to reach this end.

-- The importance of improving the state of transparency in financial markets and related legislations across a series of measures aiming at making the information and data on the activities of the financial funds indicators and to get-acquainted to the cross-transactions and their inter-actions within the petroleum market futures.

-- The importance of improving the standards relating to the market's data and information quality based on the monthly "joint oil data initiative", collecting and disseminating it on the required time. In order to increase the level of quality as regards the market's transparency and stability, the participants hereby call on the seven organizations participating in the "joint oil data initiative", the Organization of Economic Cooperation Asia-Pacific region, the Statistical Office of the European Union, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the International Energy Forum, Energy Organization in Latin America, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) and the United Nations Department of Statistics to start work in compiling annual data including, among other things, production capacity, refining capacity and development plans in each.

-- Need to begin a direct and immediate cooperation between the IAEA and OPEC in addition to the Secretariat General of the International Energy Forum to develop joint analyses of trends and forecasts of oil market, in addition to the impact of financial markets on the levels of oil prices and volatility that prevail them so as to use it to accommodate the market conditions in a better way.

-- The importance of intensifying the development aid provided by international financial institutions and national, regional and global development aid organizations in order to alleviate the consequences of high prices on the least developed countries.

-- The importance of increasing cooperation between global and national companies and service companies in all producing and consuming countries in the fields of investment, technology and human resources development.

-- The need to promote energy efficiency in all sectors through the transition of indicators related to market prices, technology transfer and exchange of the best practices and applications in the fields of energy resources production and consumption.

The host country and the parties of this statement decided to form a task team to follow up the steps required in the above points whenever appropriate. The participants accepted the generous invitation extended by the Government of the United Kingdom to hold a follow-up meeting on developments that might take place in the fields contained in this statement in London before the end of the year.

On the other hand, al-Naimi announced that the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia will continue to increase its oil production capacity to stabilize the market, stressing that the Kingdom believes that it should guarantee the flow of oil and it is ready for that.

In a press conference in Jeddah tonight following the conclusion of Jeddah Energy Meeting, he pointed out that Saudi Arabia has poured large additional quantities of oil in the market.

"Given the current levels of demand, we have pumped large quantities of additional oil production in the market to calm down those who feel worried about the levels of flow of oil. Then, consumers ought to say what do they want. At the same time, we will continue to increase our work to avoid instability of oil prices," he added.

He stressed that Jeddah Energy Meting has fulfilled all its objectives upon the testimony of all attendees, whether they were producers or exporters of oil or belonging to oil beginner countries or the industry.

He said there is a high degree of determination and commitment by the participants, given the nature of the situation prevailing in the market as well as the response to such conditions. Given the vital role of oil in our lives, the market is surrounded by a lot of circumstances that affect our economies and our lives, a matter for everyone to understand.

The minister explained that Jeddah Energy Meeting has defined specific steps to counter the current circumstances in the market and reduce the current fluctuations, calling for more steps to be taken over by producers to create policies and appropriate climate for investments to ensure future arrangements for the markets, facilitate and ease geopolitical tensions in the world. He expressed confidence that these steps will be met by the related countries in order to stabilize the market.

Naimi suggested that the current situation on oil market differs from that of the 1970s when oil prices soured, considering fears of oil price hikes as not new.

When putting its plans, the Kingdom looks at the whole world, a move not followed by others, the Minister said, adding that it also looks to the future and knows that its oil corporations are able to implement these huge projects.

He also stressed the keenness of the Kingdom on maintaining the market stability, considering meeting the orders of customers as part of the market stability.

He called on all parties to work together to acknowledge problems and offer solutions simultaneously.

On the Kingdom's oil production increase, the Minister confirmed there are efforts to make energy available, but we should bear in mind that the Kingdom is a developing country and does that gradually. Its efforts aim at diversifying energy sources and meeting the demand, he added.

There are a lot of efforts exerted by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to move in the direction of providing energy to find alternative energies to meet our needs, he said, adding that "at the same time, we want to achieve prosperity for our people and we also want to control the inflation". "And thus, we are going to support the fuel, but such support will not continue forever, I believe".

We will try to diversify the sources of our economies, exert more efforts and work to preserve our wealth, the Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources said.

He denied that the Kingdom was subject to pressure to increase its oil production or to hold this meeting. What encouraged the Kingdom to call for this meeting is the escalation and fluctuation of oil, which negatively affected the economies of many countries in the world, especially the economies of developing countries. This is the main reason, he added.

He said that oil producing countries have asked consuming countries to reduce taxes imposed on their citizens, explaining that "reducing taxes on products in consumer countries was an unrest demand of all oil producing countries, a situation that will be examined by those countries now."

For his part, the Egyptian Minister of Petroleum, Sameh Fahmi, emphasized the importance of holding the conference to discuss and review the global oil market situations in light of rise in oil prices and to support cooperation between oil producing and consuming countries and relevant parties such as international organizations and international oil companies.

He noted that the Kingdom's invitation for his country to participate in this important conference will allow Egypt to contribute effectively to supporting the dialogue between producers and consumers and to achieving a balance in markets that will be positively reflected in the oil industry in Egypt.

Bahraini Minister of Oil and Gas Dr Abdul Hussein Mirza has underscored the significance of Jeddah Energy Meeting and said the convening of the meeting is an essential matter at this stage for conducting dialogue and exchanging views between the oil producing and consuming countries.

In statements to Saudi Press Agency (SPA), he said the participants of the meeting will review a number of topics including the surging oil prices which will have an adverse impact on the world economy, notably the economies of the developing countries.

He expressed optimism about the outcome of Jeddah meeting.

Meanwhile, King Abdullah held a session of talks with the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

The Prime Minister conveyed the greetings of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, praising the depth of ties between the two friendly countries.

In turn, the Monarch welcomed the Prime Minister and sent his greetings to the Queen.

They also discussed developments at regional and international arenas in addition to ways of enhancing cooperation between the two countries in all fields. During the meeting, they reviewed the issues raised at Jeddah Energy Meeting, patronized by the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques earlier.

The meeting was attended by Prince Misha'al bin Abdulaziz, Chairman of Allegiance-Pledge Commission; Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General; Prince Mit'eb bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs; Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz, Interior Minister; Prince Abdul-Ilah bin Abdulaziz; Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz, Vice-Governor of Riyadh Region; Prince Miqren bin Abdulaziz, Chief of General Intelligence; Prince Mohammed bin Nawaf bin Abdulaziz, Saudi Ambassador to Britain and Ireland; Dr. Fuoad bin Abdulsalam Al-Farsi, Minister of Hajj; Adel bin Ahmad Al-Jubeir, Saudi Ambassador to the United States of America; William Batey, British Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; and a number of officials.

King Abdullah also received a message from Japan's Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda.

The message was handed over to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques by Japan's Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry Akira Amari during an audience held by the King.

The Minister conveyed the greetings of Japan's Emperor Akihito and Prime Minister to the Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques. In turn, the King sent his greetings to the Japanese leadership.

The audience was attended by Prince Misha'al bin Abdulaziz, Chairman of Allegiance-Pledge Commission; Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Deputy Premier, Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General; Prince Mit'eb bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs; Prince Naif bin Abdulaziz, Interior Minister; Prince Abdul-Ilah bin Abdulaziz; Prince Sattam bin Abdulaziz, Vice-Governor of Riyadh Region; Prince Miqren bin Abdulaziz, Chief of General Intelligence; and Japanese Ambassador to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Shigeru Nakamura.