Japanese Ambassador Satoshi Maeda during a press conference on Thursday. Salim Matramkot/The Peninsula
Ambassador of Japan to Qatar, H E Satoshi Maeda has revealed that the bilateral relations between Qatar and his country are “at its best over the last decade.”
He said this on Thursday during a press conference of the National Day of Japan set to be celebrated today.
Qatar and Japan marked their 50th diplomatic ties earlier this month at Msheireb Downtown Doha with the theme “Together to the Future.” The Ambassador also highlighted the first dialogue between the Foreign Ministers of Japan and Qatar which was based on the “Comprehensive Partnership” which was declared in 2013 and reinforced in 2015, and the “Projection Mapping” that underlined the strong relationship between the two countries.
Japan is the largest LNG buyer in the world and among the major sources of LNG imports are Australia, Malaysia, Qatar and Russia, according to International Trade Administration, which is under the US Department of Commerce. Maeda emphasised that they will also focus on other aspects to strengthen the relations of both countries which include the economy, politics, diplomacy, culture, sports and national security.
“In order to promote that concept, we’ll be happy to continue the strategic dialogue in the future,” the Ambassador explained. He was referring to the dialogue which was held last year. The dialogue was in between Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs H E Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani and Minister for Foreign Affairs of Japan H E Motegi Toshimitsu.
The Ambassador said, “We would like to promote further cooperation on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between our two countries. I am convinced that under the Comprehensive Partnership, bilateral cooperation can be further deepened not only in the energy sector but also in other areas such as clean energy, politics, diplomacy, defence, investment, culture and sports.”
“We hope that bilateral investment will be promoted in the future. In addition to promoting investment in Qatar from the Japanese side, we hope that the Qatari side will visit Japan in future to explore the possibility of investment in Japan, assuming that the new COVID-19-related border measures are relaxed,” the Ambassador explained.
Maeda also commended Qatar’s mediation diplomacy and its efforts to build peace and security in the future.
“At the same time, we would like to promote cooperation in education, human resource development, and social and environmental development (conservation) with the aim of realising the Qatar National Vision 2030,” he said.
The Peninsula also asked if Japan is looking into furthering its Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology in Qatar, the Ambassador responded said, “As the Al robot market is expected to grow, Japan’s current interest in AI and robotics is high and its research and progress is remarkable.”
“For example, there is a high level of interest in this field, including the use of robots in the medical field and the use of collaborative robots to improve industrial logistics. It would be great if we could explore possible areas of cooperation with Qatar in the future,” he explained.
The Ambassador also highlighted that the trade exports from Qatar to Japan reached $11.8bn in 2021 compared to 2020’s $8bn; meanwhile for import, in 2020, it reached $850mn, and in 2021, $930mn.
Japan was ranked second among the top five countries of Qatar’s external exporting countries in 2021. First is China, third came South Korea, followed by India and Singapore.
Meanwhile, top imports from Qatar to Japan include motor vehicle, tubing and drill pipe of stainless steel, self-propelled railway or tramway coaches, among others.
As the two countries marked its five decades of relationship, the Ambassador said they are currently working with Qatar Museums to plan a number of cultural events for this year’s 50th anniversary which will be announced soon.
