...

Japan eyes sending foreign minister to Iran, seeks investment pact

Oil&Gas Materials 5 September 2015 10:40 (UTC +04:00)
The government is making arrangements to send Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida to Iran in late October at the earliest and set up a joint committee between the countries to deal with energy and infrastructure development and other economic issues, government sources said Sep.4
Japan eyes sending foreign minister to Iran, seeks investment pact

The government is making arrangements to send Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida to Iran in late October at the earliest and set up a joint committee between the countries to deal with energy and infrastructure development and other economic issues, government sources said Sep.4.

The same day, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said Japan and Iran will begin three-day negotiations from Monday in Tehran to conclude a bilateral investment treaty, a move aimed at tapping into the commercial potential of the Iranian market for Japanese firms, Japan Times reported.

The moves by Japan come as the government plans to keep in step with the United States and Europe in lifting economic sanctions on Iran after an accord to diplomatically resolve Tehran's nuclear program was reached in July, government officials said.

Japan is hoping that such measures would make it easier for more Japanese companies to operate in oil-rich Iran, with a population of around 78 million, and eventually lead to increased auto exports and participation in Iranian oil field development, the officials said.

"Iran has natural resources. We would like to take appropriate measures so as not to lag behind other countries," Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga, Japan's top government spokesman, said at a news conference.

The idea of sending Kishida to Iran is so he can hold a high-level meeting with his counterpart Mohammad Javad Zarif in the hope of setting up a joint committee at the director general level to respectively discuss issues including finance, infrastructure-building and development of natural resources and energy, the sources said.

Iran, for its part, has also expressed its willingness to launch such a committee as it is eager to expand investment from Japanese companies to rebuild Iran's economy, according to the sources.

Under the historic deal reached between Iran and six major powers - the United States, Britain, China, France, Germany and Russia - the sanctions will be lifted in stages in return for Iran agreeing to long-term reductions of its nuclear program.

With sanctions on Iran expected to be lifted within this year at the earliest, foreign competition for market access in the country is expected to intensify.

Resource-poor Japan is seeking to secure stable supplies of crude oil and natural gas from Iran.

In negotiations from next week, Japan will be represented by Masaaki Kanai, director of the Second Middle East Division of the ministry's Middle Eastern and African Affairs Bureau, while Ahmad Jamali, director general of the Foreign Investment Office at the Organization for Investment, Economic and Technical Assistance of Iran, will lead Iran's delegation, the ministry said.

Iran has so far concluded bilateral investment pacts with countries including China, France and Germany, the ministry said, citing U.N. data as of August.

The government also plans to send Kentaro Sonoura, parliamentary vice foreign minister, later this month to speed up negotiations on the investment pact and work out details of the joint committee, ministry officials said.

Following the deal in July, Daishiro Yamagiwa, senior vice minister for economy, trade and industry, visited Iran in early August and held talks with officials including Iranian Oil Minister Bijan Namdar Zangeneh.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is considering making visits to five Central Asian countries - Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Turkmenistan - in late October to secure stable natural resources supplies for Japan at a time when China is increasing its influence in the region, which has rich natural resources, another source said.

Latest

Latest