Chairman of Japan External Trade Organisation, Hiroyuki Ishige.
BY MOHAMMAD SHOEB
DOHA: Qatar-Japan trade volume can be increased only by expanding cooperation in more “promising areas” of business such as healthcare, education, agriculture and human resource development as the current trade areas, i.e., energy and construction, have limited scope of growth, said a senior official of a Japanese organisation responsible for trade and investment promotion here recently.
“Although both the sides have great potential for further increasing the trade volume, but to achieve it we need to address other sectors in addition to energy and construction,” said Hiroyuki Ishige, Chairman of Japan External Trade Organisation (Jetro) on the sidelines of the Qatar-Japan Business Forum held in Qatar on Wednesday.
According to recently issued data, Japan is the largest trading partner of Qatar, and the bilateral trade volume for 2012 soared to $37bn.
However, the trade balance was skewed in favour of Qatar as the former imports a significant percentage of its energy demand (oil and gas) from the Gulf state.
The hydrocarbons-rich Gulf state has been recording trade surpluses since 2004 mostly due to shipments of oil and LNG (89 percent of total exports). Japan, which is Qatar’s main trading partner, accounts for 28 percent of total exports and eight percent of its imports.
Speaking about Japan’s trade deficit with Qatar, Ishige said: “With regards to Qatar-Japan bilateral trade, I personally believe that deficit or surplus does not matter at all as the latter is highly dependent on Qatari gas.”
However, he reiterated that the expansion in the areas of cooperation between the two countries is very crucial.
Japanese Premier, Shinzo Abe was here on an official visit with a 150-member high level business delegation representing a wide spectrum of sectors including healthcare, education, technology, food, agriculture and others to play a leading role in Qatar’s development story, especially for the preparation of 2022 Fifa World Cup.
Meanwhile, Japan has also been striving to ink a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) to enhance trade and investments to make it more balanced. But the negotiations were put on hold after two years since the negotiations started in 2006.
“The stalemate in the talks for an FTA agreement between Japan and GCC is one of the items of great disappointment. There has been no progress since the talks were put on hold in 2008. But I suggest that the negotiations must be restarted to facilitate trade and investments for mutual benefits,” he added.
Asked about the points of differences that are responsible for holding back the negotiations, he said: “Japan is ready to move forward, but to know it better please ask Saudi Arabia which was leading the negotiations from the GCC side,” he said.
Commenting about the Japanese Premier’s recently concluded official visit to Qatar, he said that this was part of Japan’s efforts in enhancing and further deepening its relationships beyond business and trade. We are trying to expand the domain of cooperation in other areas, including diplomacy, social and cultural relations between the two nations.
During the Japanese premier’s visit, both the countries inked several agreements for mutual cooperation including one between Qatar Petroleum (QP) and Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Cooperation (JOGMEC) for oil and gas exploration.
The Peninsula
