Japanese to become second foreign language in some UAE high schools

Japan and the UAE are discussing an initiative to teach Japanese as a second foreign language in some UAE high schools, according to a top Japanese diplomat.
“It is expected to start within a year,” Akihiko Nakajima, the new Japanese Ambassador to the UAE, told the Emirates News Agency, WAM, in an exclusive interview.
He said both nations are currently giving importance to educational cooperation.
“To both countries, education is one of the most important policy pillars for our prosperous future, and I firmly believe that we can contribute to each other in this area,” Nakajima said.
“Some achievements have already been made in the past years,” he said, citing the Moral Education Programme introduced in UAE primary schools in 2017, which “reflects Japanese moral education system as one of the model cases.”
Nakajima wants to extend bilateral relations to new areas as stipulated in the Japan-UAE Joint Statement signed last year.
“Until recently, our bilateral relations have always been centered around the economy, more specifically, oil business. I believe my mission here is to further expand and deepen these existing fields of cooperation of both countries,” he said.