Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Crown Prince and Prime Minister, held talks in Jeddah on Sunday with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, hours after Riyadh and Tokyo signed 26 agreements covering several sectors, most notably energy and investment.
The leaders held talks on bilateral relations, especially in the fields of economics, trade, investment, and culture. They also tackled means to boost cooperation in line with the Saudi-Japan Vision 2030.
They exchanged views on several regional and international issues and efforts made towards them.
After the talks, Crown Prince Mohammed met with business leaders and entrepreneurs from Japan in the presence of Kishida.
The talks were attended by Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Energy; Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki bin Faisal bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Sports; Prince Abdulaziz bin Saud bin Nayef bin Abdulaziz, Minister of Interior; and Prince Faisal bin Farhan bin Abdullah, Minister of Foreign Affairs.
Also present were Minister of Commerce Dr. Majid bin Abdullah Al-Qasabi; Minister of Tourism Ahmed bin Aqeel Al-Khateeb; Minister of Investment Eng. Khalid bin Abdulaziz Al-Falih, the guide minister of the visiting delegation; Minister of Communications and Information Technology Eng. Abdullah bin Amer Al-Swaha; Governor of the Public Investment Fund Yasir bin Othman Al-Rumayyan; and Saudi Ambassador to Japan Naif bin Marzouq Al-Fahadi.
From Japan, the meeting was attended by Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihiko Isozaki along with various deputy ministers and senior officials.
Kishida was on his first tour of the Middle East since he assumed his post in 2021. Saudi Arabia is the first stop on his tour. He is scheduled to travel to the United Arab Emirates and Qatar.
Crown Prince Mohammed visited Japan back in 2016. He met then PM Shinzo Abe and they launched Saudi-Japan Vision 2030 that would elevate relations between their countries beyond oil to cover strategic issues.
Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques, King Salman bin Abdulaziz visited Japan in March 2017, lending strong support to the strategic economic cooperation between Riyadh and Tokyo.
Several agreements and partnerships were inked during his visit. They included a draft memorandum of cooperation on implementing Saudi-Japan Vision 2030.
Crown Prince Mohammed visited Japan again in 2019 when he attended the G20 summit in Osaka.
The visit resulted in a qualitative leap in relations between Riyadh and Tokyo. Officials signed several agreements covering culture, combating the counterfeiting of products, and boosting SMEs and enhancing their competitiveness in global markets. Agreements also covered energy, industry, international development and investment.
In terms of trade, Saudi Arabia and Japan boast close relations. The trade exchange volume in 2022 reached $47.489 billion, marking a surplus of $34.052 billion for the Kingdom. Japan received Saudi exports worth $40.771 billion, of which $39.779 billion were oil exports, while the Kingdom imported goods worth $6.719 billion.
Japan boasts 101 companies registered in Saudi Arabia. The companies are active in the manufacturing, construction, administrative, professional, scientific and technical services, wholesale and retail trade, information and communications. They employ 13,878 people with Saudi accounting for 57 percent of that figure.
Sixty-six Saudi companies are investing in Japan, including Aramco, SABIC, ACWA Power, and Saudi International Petrochemical Company (Sipchem). Saudi Arabia's investment capital in Japan in 2020 was estimated at $102.6 million.
