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| Image: Flickr User - United States Mission Geneva |
By Mina Pollmann
Worried it is falling behind Europe and China, Japan is eager to boost ties with Iran.
On Monday, Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida met with his Iranian counterpart, Mohammad Javad Zarif, in Tehran. During their meeting, Japan and Iran agreed to speedily conclude a bilateral investment treaty and discussed how Japan can help Iran implement the July 14 nuclear accord reached with the U.S. and five other major powers.
The bilateral investment treaty will help Japanese firms start developing oil fields and begin conducting other business operations in Iran. The investment treaty is meant to end discriminatory restrictions against companies operating in each other’s country and to reduce business risks by protecting companies’ rights and assets.
Intergovernmental negotiations only began a month ago, and have progressed with remarkable speed. Tokyo is eager to accelerate the process because they fear they are falling behind European nations and China when it came to negotiating access to this large, Middle Eastern market. Tehran has already signed similar investment agreements with 52 countries, including Germany, France, China, and South Korea. Resource-poor Japan also wants to improve relations with oil-rich Iran in order to stabilize Japan’s access to Iranian crude oil and natural gas.
Read the full story at The Diplomat