The first session of the Arab - Japanese Economic Forum took
place in Japan in December 2009, during
which a memorandum of cooperation was signed. The Memorandum is considered a
general framework for economic and social cooperation between the Arab
countries and Japan. The second session was held in Tunisia in December
2010. During this session, both sides
discussed means of promoting the volume of trade, investment and development of
commercial and economic relations, especially in the field of energy,
technology and human development and the environment; in addition, to
organizing meetings between businessmen and investors from both
sides.
The third session of the Forum convened from 15-17 December
2013 in Tokyo, Japan. Headed by Ambassador Ahmed Ben Helli, Deputy
Secretary-General, the session was marked by an excellent participation of 10
ministers from Arab countries Japan and a large number of Arab and Japanese
businessmen and investors, with about
1600 participants. Among the Japanese participants, were the heads of major
private sector companies in Japan, including: the chairman of Toyota Motors
Corporation (Toyota), the president of Panasonic Corporation (Panasonic), and
the head of Chiyoda Corporation (Chiyoda).
The forum discussed cooperation within several areas of
common interest including energy, environment, infrastructure, human resources
development, sciences, technology and scientific research, in addition to the
establishment of multi-faceted economic relations to foster economic
development in the industry, agriculture, and health sectors.
In the context of enhancing and promoting the Arab-Japanese
relations, a memorandum of cooperation was signed to expand the areas of
cooperation to include political, cultural and educational collaboration, which
comprises dialogue among civilizations, promoting cultural exchange and
cooperation between educational institutions and research centers, as well as
cooperation in the field of scientific research and technology, and human
resources development. The Arab-Japanese Political Cooperation Forum shall be
launched on the sidelines of the upcoming fourth session of the Arab-Japanese
Economic Forum, to be held in Morocco in
December year (2014).
Economic
cooperation and trade between Japan and the Arab countries has witnessed
significant progress: a great increase in the two-way trade volume during the
past few years. The trade exchange
between the two countries rose from $ 94.5 billion in 2005 to $ 133.7 billion
in 2010 and increased to $ 170 billion in 2012 [1]. Japan represents the fourth largest trading
partner of the Arab countries after the European Union, the United States and
China. A major increase has also been observed regarding mutual investments as
Japanese investment in Arab countries rose from about $ 1.5 billion in 2005 to
about $ 4 billion in 2009 and reached $ 14.8 billion by the end of 2010 and
2011, making Japan the fifth largest
investor in the Arab countries. [2]
[1] (Source:
Unified Arab Economic Report for 2012)
[2] (Source:
Report on Investment in the Arab Countries in 2011, issued by the Arab
Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation)
