Japan Pledges to Back Asian Nations over Crude Oil, Inflation

Samarkand, Uzbekistan, May 5 (Jiji Press)–Japan has pledged to fully support developing Asian nations struggling amid crude oil shortages and inflation blamed on the ongoing Middle East tensions, at a series of gatherings held in Uzbekistan on Sunday and later, including an annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank. With China, which is boosting its presence in the region, in mind, Japan is working to expand economic security cooperation with like-minded countries. Attention will be paid to how quickly Japan can deliver on its avowed support. “Japan has extensive supply chains in Asia, so helping Asia is the same as helping Japan,” Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama told a press conference in Samarkand, southeastern Uzbekistan, Monday, underscoring the significance of supporting the region. Katayama, who arrived in Uzbekistan on Sunday, explained at the string of meetings the Japanese government’s initiative announced last month to provide up to 10 billion dollars in financial aid to help Asian countries procure crude oil and petroleum products. On Monday, Japan and the Manila-based ADB jointly unveiled a program to support the financing of small enterprises in ADB member countries and the nations’ energy structure transformation in the medium to long term. Tokyo aims to ensure its economic security by leading efforts to strengthen supply chains in Asia, on which Japan relies for much of its material procurement. Both supply- and demand-side countries have already shown interest in the Japanese initiatives, according to Japanese government officials. Katayama’s visit to Uzbekistan coincided with Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s tour of Vietnam and Australia, in which she agreed with leaders of the two nations on the strengthening of energy security cooperation, among other things. Katayama also put efforts into resource diplomacy with Central Asian countries. She held meetings with Uzbek leaders and ministers of Azerbaijan, an oil-producing country, calling for cooperation in procuring crude oil and critical minerals from sources other than the Middle East and China, respectively. Positive responses were given by the Central Asian nations, informed sources said. Still, it remains to be seen whether these efforts will prove effective in avoiding an energy crisis amid growing concerns over a prolonged conflict in the Middle East. In particular, infrastructure development needed for enhancing supply chains will take a long time. In addition, in the race for natural resource concessions in Central Asian nations, Japan needs to beat China, which is ahead of the country. END [Copyright The Jiji Press, Ltd.]