Japan PM heads to Mideast on profile-raising trip

Washington, Apr 28: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, following a meeting with US President George W Bush, heads today for the West Asia to raise Japan's profile in the region and ensure a stable energy supply.

Japan has long felt it has a special role to play in the West Asia because it lacks much of the political baggage of the United States, allowing for warmer ties with Arab nations and a role as a mediator between Israel and the Palestinians.

With Japan dependent on the region for nearly all its crude oil, Tokyo has decided to boost its involvement in the area as competition for resources heats up with the economic growth of China and India.

The first stop on his five-nation trip is the world's top oil producer, Saudi Arabia, which has also recently taken a larger role in West Asia peace-making efforts.

Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Aso said earlier this year that Tokyo has to boost its presence in the West Asia because growing energy demand in China and India would make the oil market more of a seller's market than ever.

Officials said before Abe's trip that Tokyo aims to broaden its regional involvement to include non-oil investment and human development out of concern that overdependence on the oil industry among Gulf nations could lead to instability.

Abe is accompanied on his West Asia trip by an economic mission of some 175 businessmen from top Japanese firms. The mission is led by Fujio Mitarai, head of the Keidanren business lobby.

Trade officials said this week that Japan aims to conclude a free trade agreement with six West Asian oil producing nations by 2008 including Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates.

Analysts say Japan's push in the region is being driven at least in part by a desire to improve an image tarnished in the eyes of some Arab nations after Tokyo sent troops to Iraq on a reconstruction mission in support of the United States.

Japan withdrew its roughly 600 ground troops from Iraq last year following a noncombat mission that lasted more than two years. But some 200 air force personnel remain in Kuwait, where they airlift supplies to the US military in Iraq.

The mission recently was extended for two more years.

Abe was set to visit an air base in Kuwait to thank the troops. He also was scheduled to stop in the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Egypt before returning to Japan on May 2.

Reuters>