UAE, Japan launch strategic partnership agreement

The UAE and Japan have launched a strategic partnership agreement coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral relations between the two countries.

The agreement was launched in Tokyo in the presence of Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and His Highness Sheikh Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, member of the Abu Dhabi Executive Council and Chairman the Abu Dhabi Executive Office, who is heading a UAE delegation to Japan on an official visit.

The comprehensive partnership was initially announced in 2018 when the late Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe visited the UAE.

It aims to strengthen bilateral ties by encouraging more diplomatic, economic, political and commercial partnerships and by encouraging investment in both countries.

The priority areas for cooperation include technology, infrastructure, artificial intelligence, healthcare, and SMEs, as well as agriculture, environment, climate change solutions, education, science and technology, and defence and security.

Khaled bin Mohamed bin Zayed has met Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Tokyo and witnessed the launch of a strategic partnership agreement between the UAE and Japan. pic.twitter.com/8wTOJTk0DQ

— مكتب أبوظبي الإعلامي (@ADMediaOffice) September 26, 2022

The UAE delegation's latest visit to Japan reflects the depth of their bilateral ties.

The meeting was attended by Dr. Sultan bin Ahmed Al Jaber, Minister of Industry and Advanced Technology and UAE Special Envoy to Japan, Shehab Ahmed Al Fahim, UAE Ambassador to Japan, and a number of officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.

Japan was one of the first countries to establish diplomatic ties with the UAE in 1971, culminating in the opening of the UAE Embassy in Tokyo in December 1973 and the Embassy of Japan in Abu Dhabi in April 1974.

The UAE is also Japan's tenth largest trading partner globally, according to 2021 statistics, and Japan's largest strategic partner in the field of energy, importing more than 20 per cent of its oil from the UAE.

The volume of non-oil trade between the two countries in 2021 amounted to more than AED 4 9 billion, and continued to recover during the first half of 2022 to rise to pre-COVID-19 levels, reaching around AED 25.7 billion, an increase of 2.7 per cent compared with the first half of 2021.

The UAE is also home to more than 340 Japanese companies operating in various sectors.

Read more: https://t.co/hN0eeKgLMk

— مكتب أبوظبي الإعلامي (@ADMediaOffice) September 26, 2022