TEHRAN The Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Takeo Hiranuma left Tuesday for a week-long tour of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iran and the United Arab Emirates (UAE). According to the Japanese news agency, Kyodo,

Hiranuma's visit is aimed at stabilizing and strengthening ties with the four oil-producing countries that comprise the top four suppliers of Japan's oil imports, Kyodo added.

He is expected to visit Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and Thursday, Kuwait on Saturday, Iran on Sunday and the UAE the following day before returning to Japan next Tuesday.

As for the development of an area of Iran's Azadegan Field, the world's biggest untapped oil deposit near the Iraqi border, Japanese firms obtained prime negotiation rights when Iranian President Mohammad Khatami visited Tokyo last November.

The first Japanese trade and industry minister to visit Iran since the victory of the Islamic Revolution in 1979, Hiranuma is to offer economic cooperation and express his support for the negotiation process, which is expected to result in a final contract by the end of 2002.

Hiranuma will also address the possibility of co-hosting with the UAE an international energy forum for dialogue between oil-producing and oil-consuming countries to be held in the fall of next year in Tokyo.