Thursday, Aug 28, 2008

Dubai: Japanese business leaders gathered in Dubai yesterday to seek ways to attract capital from the region.

"Japan is trying to develop innovation and technology, so they are here to invite money from the Middle East," said Jiro Nemoto, chairman of the Japan Cooperation Centre for the Middle East, on the sidelines of the centre's 33rd forum.

The Middle East is a key market for Japan, with recent reports indicating a 27.5 per cent jump in exports over 2007.

Japanese exports to the region largely compose of cars and electronics.

n Saudi Arabia, Japanese vehicles represented nearly two-thirds of new car sales, with Japanese investments in Saudi Arabia strengthened by the Saudi Arabia-Japan Industrial Cooperation Task Force.

Japanese companies are also involved in projects in water, power, petroleum and petrochemical sectors in the region.

Nemoto, at the commencement of the two-day conference, said he was "very hopeful" of achieving the goals of the conference, to "push the tide" of increased cooperation between his country and the Middle East.

"We are very hopeful, because you have enough money and we have the technology... we have the good human factor, you have the money and you have the oil," he said.

The Middle East was a "complicated" region, he said, with countries of extremely high GDPs and countries of low GDPs neighbouring each other.

By Natasha Marrian

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