Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday praised the long relationship his energy-hungry nation has had with the United Arab Emirates, a crucial oil supplier, at the start of a Mideast tour. Abe appeared briefly at a Japan-UAE Business Forum in the Emirati capital of Abu Dhabi, at
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday praised the long relationship his energy-hungry nation has had with the United Arab Emirates, a crucial oil supplier, at the start of a Mideast tour.
Abe appeared briefly at a Japan-UAE Business Forum in the Emirati capital of Abu Dhabi, at one point even praising Japanese fruit for sale.
«Japan and the UAE are keen to develop a people-to-people dialogue,» he said.
But produce and interpersonal communication are far from the most-important business relationship Japan has with the UAE. A parade of oilmen speakers, including oil company INPEX Corp.’s CEO, stressed the need for Emirati crude and gas.
«Abu Dhabi is an extremely important region for us and accounts for half of our net production,» said Toshiaki Kitamura, INPEX’s CEO and chairman.
