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.
