Arab News Japan

TOKYO: Japan’s minister of economy, trade and industry Hiroshi Kajiyama on Wednesday applauded the current level of strong strategic, economic bilateral ties with Saudi Arabia.

Economic ties between the two countries have been expanding in the business sector steadily since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1955. Kajiyama thanked Saudi Arabia for being a stable supplier of crude oil to Japan.

“We have formed such strong economic lateral ties that has now evolved into something more strategic and profound rather than centering only around the oil supply,” Kajiyama said in his opening remarks of Saudi-Japan Vision 2030 Business Forum Webinar.

The Webinar was held on Dec. 16 with the participation of top economic and investment leaders from Japan and Saudi Arabia. Saudi investment minister Khalid A. Al Falih also gave opening remarks highlighting the strong ties and promising prospects.

Kajiyama noted that “based on our 2017 agreement signed by our national leaders in regard to the Saudi vision 2030, we have been making efforts toward its success working with as many as 73 ministries and organizations and the collaborations from medical, entertainment sectors along with small business. I acknowledge that Saudi Arabia’s movement of not over-relying on oil production and adopting multi-industrialization policies has become much more noticeable.”

The Japanese METI Minister also stressed that his country “is very much willing to support and assist Vision 2030 with all efforts.”

Japan’s cabinet agreed that while maintaining collaborative projects with Saudi Arabia, steps to accelerate this process further are enhanced, Kajiyama told the Webinar. “We conducted an experiment to reduce carbon emission with the ammonia Saudi Arabia produced this summer, which was transported to Japan for generating power research. We were the first to attempt such an experiment in the world, and we are sure we made a huge step forward toward the realization of Saudi-led Carbon Circular Economy and Japan’s Carbon Neutral 2050.”

On the finance front, Japan plans to establish a new collaborative framework between Nippon Export Investment Insurance (NEXI) and Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Finance. “We expect to accelerate joint projects by utilizing this framework,” he said.

Contacts and mutual visits between both countries have been active despite the COVID-19 pandemic. In August, an official from Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Investment visited Japan as moves continues to support local offices in both countries.

“In this forum alone, we can see a measure that was never taken before such as holding an online business talk event. It has turned the challenges posed by COVID into an opportunity, and we expect this will lead to further strengthen our lateral ties. Saudi-Japan Vision 2030 event is held in spite of these restrictions. We will strive to further promote our communication and businesses, METI Minister Kajiyama said.