ISDS Case Map
energy
oil, gas, agrofuels
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah signed a free trade agreement between their countries in Tokyo on Monday, with Japan seeking stable energy supply from the resource-rich Southeast Asian nation.
Japan and Brunei will sign a free trade agreement next week aimed at cutting tariffs and ensuring a stable supply of natural gas to Japan from the Southeast Asian country, an official said Friday.
Ecuador is furiously lobbying members of Congress to extend trade preferences, set to run out at the end of the month, that are intended to counter narcotics trafficking.
Indonesia is offering liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies to Japan and South Korea from its largest natural gas field of Tanggguh in Papua province, local press said Monday. LNG supplies to the two countries will consume half of the production in Tangguh. Japan agreed to sign the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) in exchange for the LNG supplies.
The India-Brazil strategic partnership formalised in September last year during Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's tour of the South American country will be reinforced this week with specific inputs on trade and technology, according to official sources.
Japan is the preferred US candidate among Asian powers to penetrate an increasingly eastward leaning Middle East. In providing advanced technology and investments that the region desperately needs, Japan has an advantage over India and China in this new rivalry for Middle East influence.
The connection between instability in the Middle East and the cost of feeding a family in the Americas isn't direct, of course. But as with all international trade, power tilts the balance.
For the first time, Japan has secured a specific chapter on 'energy' in a bilateral FTA -- with Brunei.
Abe agreed with leaders of five Middle East nations to strengthen bilateral relations with Japan on a wide range of areas, including politics, culture and environment as well as energy, trade and investment.
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Qatari Emir Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani reaffirmed Tuesday at a meeting in Doha that they will cooperate in securing stable energy supplies for Japan, Japanese officials said.
