Nikkei reported that MOFA announced on Monday that Japan has reached an effective agreement with the UAE on a Transfer of Defense Equipment and Technology Agreement, saying that this will be the first such agreement between Japan and a Middle Eastern nation. The paper wrote that Japan has already concluded similar agreements with the United States, Thailand, and 10 other….Read more

TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi plan to hold talks on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly session next week, diplomatic sources said Thursday, amid an ongoing struggle to revive the 2015 Iran nuclear deal.   Raisi will visit the United States for the first time since taking office in August last year. The….Read more

TOKYO – Around 40 percent of the 169 people who fled to Japan from Afghanistan following the Taliban’s return to power in August last year have left their new home due to what they say was pressure and a lack of support from the Japanese Foreign Ministry.   Although Japan has granted refugee status to 98 people, 58 returned to Afghanistan despite the….Read more

NHK reported this morning that Prime Minister Kishida held a teleconference with UAE President Muhammad on Tuesday evening amid oil prices remaining high due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Kishida reportedly congratulated the UAE president on his appointment in May and expressed appreciation for the UAE’s stable supply of crude oil to Japan. According to the network, the two leaders….Read more

Tokyo, Sept. 12 (Jiji Press)–Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman agreed on Monday to deepen cooperation for a stable crude oil market and carbon neutrality through clean energy sources.   Amid soaring energy prices due to the war in Ukraine, Kishida said in the telephone talks that he expects the crown prince to….Read more

Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Israel is willing to expand cooperation with Japan in cutting-edge defense technology, including high-powered laser weapons effective against artillery and drones.   “Japan has really developed technologically, and Israel has really developed itself in terms of defense technology,” Gantz, who concurrently serves as deputy prime minister, told The Yomiuri Shimbun in an exclusive interview….Read more

Tokyo, Aug. 29 (Jiji Press)–Japan and Israel agreed Monday to closely cooperate with each other.     The agreement was made during a meeting at the prime minister’s office in Tokyo between Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Hirokazu Matsuno and Israeli Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Benjamin Gantz.     Matsuno told Gantz that Japan opposes unilateral attempts to change the status….Read more

Nikkei reported that Prime Minister Kishida plans to visit Qatar and the UAE later this month following his planned attendance at the TICAD international conference in Tunisia on Aug. 27-28, explaining that the primary purpose of the trip is to secure energy supplies from the two partners in light of the soaring oil and LNG prices triggered by the Russian….Read more

Nikkei wrote that Prime Minister Kishida is making arrangements to visit Qatar, the UAE, and other nations in the Middle East later this month when he travels to Tunisia on Aug. 27-28 to attend the Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD). The paper speculated that Kishida will discuss with oil producing countries in the region the rise in oil….Read more

By HIROYUKI AKIYAMA, Nikkei staff writer   TOKYO — Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida is set to tour Middle Eastern countries including Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates later this month as soaring energy prices stoke inflation.   The visits would be scheduled around the Tokyo International Conference on African Development being held in Tunisia on Aug. 27-28, which….Read more