Japan, Saudi Arabia agree to launch FTA talks with GCC
April 06, 2006
Japan, Saudi Arabia agree to launch FTA talks with GCC+
(Japan Economic Newswire Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)
TOKYO, April 6 (Kyodo) — Japan and Saudi Arabia agreed Thursday to launch negotiations on concluding a free trade agreement between Japan and the Gulf Cooperation Council, which consists of six oil producers in the Middle East including Saudi Arabia, Japanese officials said.
To prepare for the official talks, Japan and the GCC will hold preparatory negotiations in late May in Riyadh, Japan’s foreign, trade, farm and finance ministries said.
The decision came on the occasion of Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Abdullah ibn Abd al-Aziz’s three-day visit to Japan which wraps up Friday.
The crown prince and Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi welcomed the agreement in a joint statement they issued after their talks Thursday afternoon.
In it, they expressed hope that the agreement will "contribute to further strengthening the economic and business relations between Japan and Saudi Arabia as well as between Japan and the GCC States as a whole."
The GCC groups oil producers of Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait, and its headquarters is based in the Saudi Arabian capital.
The crown prince, who doubles as Saudi Arabia’s deputy premier, defense and aviation minister and inspector general, also pledged in the statement that the oil-rich nation will continue to be a stable supplier and promote measures to attract more investment from Japan in the Middle Eastern country.
In a separate meeting, Crown Prince Abdullah told Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Toshihiro Nikai that the biggest oil supplier to Japan will also contribute to the stabilization of oil prices in the global market, a Japanese trade ministry official said.
Referring to a $9.8 billion joint petrochemical project between Sumitomo Chemical Co. and state-run Saudi Arabian Oil, also known as Saudi Aramco, he said the two countries should protect and strengthen measures to boost investment.
In 2005, 30 percent of Japan’s total oil imports came from Saudi Arabia. Japan, which exports items such as vehicles, machinery and steel to the country, is Saudi Arabia’s No. 2 trading partner following the United States and a major investor in the country.
Japan hopes to resume negotiations to sign an investment accord with Saudi Arabia, which have stalled since August 2000, according to the trade ministry.
During the meeting, the crown prince also sought Japan’s support in nurturing small and medium-sized businesses in the Middle Eastern country. Nikai said he will present a list of Japanese small businesses with excellent performances to Saudi Arabia in about a month.
In the statement, the two nations agreed to promote high-level political dialogue such as between foreign ministers.
The statement also touched on multilateral issues including the Iranian nuclear standoff and Iraq’s postwar reconstruction.
Both nations, stressing that the Middle East be a region free of all weapons of mass destruction, said they "confirmed the importance of supporting the international diplomatic efforts which aim at nonproliferation of nuclear weapons as well as working for a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear issue."
They also agreed to closely coordinate to help the Iraqi reconstruction efforts, according to the statement.
The crown prince during his talks with Koizumi reiterated Saudi Arabia’s support for Japan’s aspiration to become a permanent member of the U.N. Security Council, a Japanese Foreign Ministry official said.
He met with Emperor Akihito and Foreign Minister Taro Aso earlier in the day.
