A Saudi-Japanese roundtable meeting was held in Jeddah yesterday, Sunday, attended by Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and Saudi Minister of Investment Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih, along with representatives from the Japanese government and over 44 leading Japanese companies. During the meeting, opportunities for enhancing investment partnerships between the two countries were reviewed and studied across a wide range of sectors such as clean energy, clean chemicals, mining, healthcare, and digital technologies. The meeting concluded with the signing of 26 memoranda of understanding and investment agreements.
The Saudi Minister of Investment emphasized that "the relations connecting the Kingdom with Japan are of vital strategic importance," stating: "Undoubtedly, the meeting between Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the Japanese Prime Minister during his visit to the Kingdom marks a significant turning point in a new era of development for these relations." He added, "With the major transformations underway in the Saudi economy and the efforts to diversify and sustain its resources, as part of Vision 2030, enormous investment opportunities have emerged in the Kingdom, which Japanese companies can benefit from in various fields, ranging from infrastructure, healthcare, financial services, clean energy, entertainment, to digital content." He affirmed that "the Kingdom, government, and business sector is working to enhance and develop this partnership in the coming years through joint development for 2030."
For his part, the Japanese Prime Minister expressed his appreciation to attendees and participants at the roundtable meeting, which will work to expand and develop economic relations between the two countries, asserting that the Kingdom is an important strategic partner for Japan in energy security. He expressed his happiness at the diversity of this partnership in several areas under the Saudi-Japanese Vision 2030, which was agreed upon during the Crown Prince's visit to Japan in 2016. He noted that the number of Japanese companies operating in the Kingdom has risen to 110, highlighting that he is accompanied by 27 leaders of Japanese companies during this visit, reflecting the size of economic expectations for the Kingdom.
The Japanese Prime Minister confirmed Japan's intention to expand economic cooperation with the Kingdom in areas such as clean energy, startups, healthcare, entertainment, and advanced technologies. He looked forward to working with the Kingdom to make the Middle East a global center for supply chains in mining and minerals by uniting efforts between the two countries and leveraging the Kingdom's prime geographical location, low renewable energy costs, mineral wealth, and promising investment future.
The signed memoranda of understanding and investment agreements covered several priority sectors, including health, entertainment, culture, traditional energy, green energy, chemicals, manufacturing, machinery and equipment, financial services, technology, agriculture, the environment, and real estate.
It is noteworthy that the Saudi-Japanese roundtable meeting takes place at a time when trade between Saudi Arabia and Japan has strengthened. Furthermore, the Saudi-Japanese Vision 2030 has expanded since its launch to include additional sectors that have grown in importance in Saudi Arabia in recent years, including entertainment, tourism, and space.
